Kiwi has appointed Sumeet Basrani as its Chief Business Officer (CBO), reinforcing its leadership team as it prepares to scale its credit-on-UPI offering across the country.
The appointment comes at a time when the company is transitioning from early product adoption to large-scale distribution, with a sharper focus on expanding access to credit through UPI in collaboration with banks and ecosystem partners. As part of this next phase, Kiwi aims to deepen market penetration and align its offerings with evolving consumer payment behaviors.
Basrani brings over 15 years of experience in cards and payments, having worked with leading organizations such as CRED, OneCard, ICICI Bank, and Visa. In his most recent role at CRED, he was instrumental in building and expanding partnerships across credit cards, payments, and lending, working closely with banks and financial institutions to scale business outcomes.
Commenting on the appointment, Siddharth Mehta said, “This is a natural next step for us. As we grow, it becomes important to have leadership that can translate market shifts into clear business and product decisions. Sumeet understands how banks, networks, and consumer platforms intersect — which is exactly where Kiwi is building. His experience in scaling businesses will be critical as we take credit on UPI to a much larger audience.”
Sharing his perspective, Basrani said, “Credit on UPI is at an inflection point; early adoption is visible, but the real opportunity lies in embedding credit seamlessly into everyday payments, while expanding access to credit. Kiwi is well-positioned to lead this shift, and the next phase will be about scaling distribution and unlocking new use cases for credit.”
Founded in 2022 by Siddharth Mehta, Mohit Bedi, and Anup Agrawal, Kiwi enables users to access RuPay credit cards on UPI, combining the flexibility of credit with the wide merchant acceptance of the UPI ecosystem. The platform focuses on simplifying credit access while integrating it seamlessly into everyday digital transactions.
The company has already issued over 2 lakh credit cards through partnerships with lending institutions, indicating strong early traction in the market.
On the funding front, Kiwi raised $24 million in a Series B round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, with participation from Nexus Venture Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners, and Omidyar Network. Prior to this, the company secured $13 million in its Series A round in November 2023, taking its total funding to $43 million.
Looking ahead, Kiwi is targeting profitability within the next two years, as it continues to scale its distribution, expand partnerships, and unlock new use cases for credit on UPI in India’s rapidly evolving fintech landscape.
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