BNPL fintech startup BharatX acquires Zenifi to enter medical lending market

Y-Combinator-backed BNPL fintech startup BharatX has acquired Zenifi, a healthcare finance startup providing zero-cost and low-cost EMI solutions.

With this acquisition, BharatX, which provides credit as a service to end users, will enter the medical lending segment.

Zenifi CEO to join BharatX

As part of the deal, Padam Kataria, the Co-founder and CEO of Zenifi, will join BharatX as the Head of Business—healthcare.

Leveraging his extensive experience in the sector gained during his tenure at Navi and Zenifi, Padam will work on building BharatX’s healthcare lending vertical, the startup said in a statement.

Improving healthcare providers' conversion rates

Founded in 2023 by Padam Kataria, Harshit Shrivastava, and Rajendra Kulkarni, Zenifi provides zero-cost and low-cost EMIs to improve healthcare providers' conversion rates. It helps them convert walk-in patients by offering affordable payment options for their treatment.

The startup claims to have established partnerships with multiple hospitals and aggregators and generated an annual demand rate worth Rs 1.2 crore+.

Zenifi's partnership with BharatX

BharatX said it has a long-standing partnership with Zenifi, which was one of the earliest partners to provide a lending platform for extending credit.

By joining BharatX, the Zenifi team can leverage the pre-existing lending platform and realise better economics.

Notably, the acquisition will allow BharatX to break into the healthcare sector, a sector ripe for disruption and one of the largest sectors needing credit after its disruptive success in online shopping credit solutions.

“Joining forces with BharatX is a good opportunity for Zenifi. We have firsthand experience of making medical lending easy and accessible and with BharatX’s well-established credit as a service, the synergies between the two companies will ensure that we can accelerate the speed with which we capture the market," said Padam Kataria, CEO of Zenifi.

"Our goal is to offer easy credit solutions to millions of Indians who are currently left with no choice but to pay OOP for medical situations," Kataria said.

BharatX CEO highlights the importance of acquisition

Mehul Jindal, Co-founder and CEO of BharatX said, “The healthcare sector in India faces a significant challenge when it comes to paying for medical services. This becomes a problem, especially during emergencies. India continues to spend the largest amount for accessing healthcare through their own pockets, making availing medical facilities an expensive proposition. We have been working with Zenifi that is addressing this problem head-on by providing realistic and affordable solutions."

Jindal said the acquisition will allow BharatX to penetrate the healthcare vertical more deeply. Currently, no fintech or traditional players can instantly disburse credit, which is critical in emergency healthcare, Jindal added.