E-commerce giant Amazon acquires digital lending firm Axio ahead of festive season

E-commerce giant Amazon has completed its acquisition of Axio, formerly known as Capital Float, after receiving approval from the Reserve Bank of India, marking one of its largest deals in the country.

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The move is aimed at broadening credit access and strengthening Amazon’s financial services offerings through Amazon Pay.

While the company didn't reveal the financial terms of the deal, media reports indicated that the all-cash transaction is estimated to be valued around $200 million. Bengaluru-based Axio has raised $157 million in equity and about $671 million in debt to date, with Amazon already holding a 17.38% stake before the acquisition. Other notable partners of the company include Decathlon and Xiaomi.

The deal builds on a six-year partnership during which Axio has powered Buy Now, Pay Later services for Amazon Pay, serving more than 10 million customers.

“With only 1 in 6 Indian customers having access to checkout financing, growing access to credit is a fundamental priority for Amazon,” said Mahendra Nerurkar, Vice President, Payments at Amazon India. 

“Over the past 6 years, our partnership with Axio has enabled us to unlock credit for 10 million+ customers.  Axio's digital lending expertise combined with Amazon's reach, technology know-how and bank relationships would help us expand responsible lending to millions more customers and small businesses in the coming years.”

Founded by Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja, Axio has emerged as a leading digital lending and checkout finance provider in India.

"Joining forces with Amazon marks an exciting new chapter for Axio," said Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja, Co-founders at Axio.

"This union will allow us to accelerate our mission to expand access to credit. With Amazon’s reach, customer centricity and balance sheet depth, we are well-positioned to build on our product portfolio and existing partnerships to take digital lending to the next 100 million Indians – responsibly and at scale,” they added.

Axio, which will continue to operate under its current leadership team as a subsidiary of Amazon, reported a 50% jump in revenue to Rs 351 crore in FY24, up from Rs 235 crore in the previous fiscal year. The company also narrowed its losses to Rs 18 crore in FY24, compared with Rs 137 crore in FY23.