Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has advised Amazon on its acquisition of Bengaluru-based fintech platform Axio (formerly known as Capital Float) for close to $200 million. AZB & Partners represented Axio and its founders Gaurav Hinduja and Sashank Rishyasringa on the deal.
IndusLaw acted for selling investors SAIF Partners, Elevation Capital, Peak XV Partners, Creation Investments, Ribbit Capital, and LR India Fund.
The acquisition allows the e-commerce giant to expand its credit-based offerings to its customers in India. Amazon has been an investor in Axio for over five years, including a $20 million fundraise from Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund last year.
Amazon’s fintech investments in India include insurance platform Acko, credit marketplace BankBazaar, and wealth-tech platform Smallcase. Axio’s acquisition allows Amazon to gain access to an NBFC licence.
Axio has raised over $232 million in funding and has over $250 million in assets under management serving more than 10 million customers.
India’s fintech sector is among the fastest growing in the world, projected to reach a market size of $1.3 trillion by 2025. The BNPL (buy now, pay later) market, in which Axio is a key player, has witnessed exponential growth. In 2021, the BNPL customer base for online and offline retail was 5 and 2 million, respectively. This is expected to surge to 30 million for online retail and 22 million for offline retail by 2026, according to Market Brew.
The CAM deal team was led by partner Arun Prabhu and included partners Sharada Ramachandra and Saurav Samaddar, principal associate Arpita Sengupta and associate Marc Martin. The general corporate team also included principal associate Arvind Velu and associates Anish Meduri, Ashwin Satheesh, and Rahi Dhuvad.
Partners Jian Johnson and Utkarsh Bhatnagar (FSRP), Bishen Jeswant (employment), Vijay Pratap Singh Chauhan (competition), Bharat Reddy (ESOP), Anuradha Mukherjee (founder payout structuring) and senior advisors Ganesh Kumar and Lily Vadera also advised on the deal.
The AZB deal team comprised senior partner Srinath Dasari, along with associates Raina Kanungo, Anshu Maheswari and Khyati Kapoor.
The IndusLaw team comprises of partner Winnie Shekhar, principal associate Rajat Jain, senior associate Aditya Kumar, and associate Harsha Tiwari.
