Japan’s Mizuho Bank is set to invest $145 million in Credit Saison India, the Indian arm of Saison International, per an announcement.
Mizuho Bank is the retail and corporate banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group.
The deal is slated to mark the first investment by a non-group company into Credit Saison India.
Saison International has expanded its international presence over the last seven years with offices across Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and India. In 2023, it entered two more markets — Brazil and Mexico.
The company received its non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence to operate in India in 2019.
While initial operations were focused on wholesale lending and tech-integrated partnerships with leading NBFCs and fintechs, Credit Saison India has expanded into lending to consumers through partnerships with platforms through embedded finance.
Credit Saison India also lends directly to SMEs via over 40 physical branches across the country. The company claims to have grown its portfolio to 1.2 million active loans, with an AUM of over $1.2 billion and an employee base of over 800 people in India.
“We first entered India in 2019 with a vision of assembling a strong and experienced local team, each with a founder mindset, to build a solid business which plugged the gap of financial accessibility for individuals and enterprises,” said Kosuke Mori, CEO of Saison International.
Meanwhile, Presha Paragash, CEO of Credit Saison India, added: “This investment by Mizuho into Credit Saison India marks the start of a new collaborative chapter as we … execute on our growth plans..”
The strategic investment by Mizuho in Credit Saison India signals a new era of alliances and partnerships between traditional financial institutions and NBFCs looking to tap the huge lending opportunity in India.
The capital injection follows a string of fintech investments by Mizuho across Asia including M-service, a leading digital payment company in Vietnam; Tonik, the first digital-only neobank in the Philippines; as well as Kredivo, a leading consumer credit platform in Indonesia.