ePayLater is a buy-now-pay-later and B2B credit company based in Mumbai, India, that offers credit to retailers and businesses.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what ePayLater does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

ePayLater in Brief

• What it is: ePayLater is an Indian BNPL and B2B credit company based in Mumbai.
• Who it serves: consumers, merchants, banks, lenders and enterprises.
• ePayLater is a Mumbai fintech (legal name Arthashastra Fintech Pvt Ltd) offering buy-now-pay-later credit to shoppers and credit to small retailers.
• Retailers get 14-day interest-free credit to buy inventory from sellers; consumers have been offered instant credit lines at checkout of up to Rs 20,000 (reported).
• It also offers credit lines, short-term loans and merchant cash advances to businesses, described as collateral-free (company-stated).
• Funding: About $15.7 million across several rounds (reports differ; one profile's table lists only about $5.7 million in disclosed amounts).

ePayLater Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is ePayLater?

ePayLater operates in the BNPL and B2B credit space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to ePayLater.

• ePayLater is a Mumbai fintech (legal name Arthashastra Fintech Pvt Ltd) offering buy-now-pay-later credit to shoppers and credit to small retailers.
• Retailers get 14-day interest-free credit to buy inventory from sellers; consumers have been offered instant credit lines at checkout of up to Rs 20,000 (reported).
• It also offers credit lines, short-term loans and merchant cash advances to businesses, described as collateral-free (company-stated).
• It reports having disbursed over Rs 1,000 crore for inventory purchases by 2021, and a later report cites over Rs 1,900 crore across about 80 cities.
• It has an NBFC licence through a subsidiary, while its credit is financed through partner lenders and non-banks (reported).

The Origin Story of ePayLater

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Akshat Saxena, Aurko Bhattacharya, Uday Somayajula.
• The founders came from banking and financial services and saw very low credit penetration in India (about 40 million credit cardholders).
• They set out to build digital credit underwritten with data science and alternate data, decisioning in under a second (company-stated).
• Founding year is given as 2015 by most profiles; one profile says December 2015.
• Founder lists differ: three founders in most profiles; a 2021 news report also names Prasannaa Muralidharan and Shanmu Thiagaraja.

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the BNPL and B2B credit sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• 2015: founded in Mumbai.
• 2016: seed round of about $2 million (reported).
• 2018: ICICI Bank took a minority stake (about 9.9%, reported) and led a seed round of about $1.2 million.
• January 2019: pre-Series A led by ICICI Bank with GMO Global Fintech Fund participating.
• 2019: won a MeitY Startup Summit fintech award for innovation in digital payments through lending.
• February 2021: Rs 18 crore raised from Pravega Ventures and internal investors.
• September 2021: about $10 million raised led by Responsability Investments AG, Blue Ashva Capital and Pravega Ventures.

ePayLater Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• Seed, 2016: about $2 million (Rs 14.09 crore) (reported).
• Seed, 2018: about $1.2 million led by ICICI Bank (reported).
• Pre-Series A, January 2019: led by ICICI Bank with GMO Global Fintech Fund participating (reported).
• February 2021: Rs 18 crore (about $2.5 million) from Pravega Ventures and internal investors (reported).
• September 2021: about $10 million led by Responsability Investments AG, Blue Ashva Capital and Pravega Ventures (reported).
• Total: trackers put it at about $15.7 million; round counts differ by source.

How Does ePayLater Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to consumers, merchants, banks, lenders and enterprises, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Merchants pay a transaction commission or fee when shoppers use the pay-later option.
• Retailers receive short-term credit to buy stock; revenue also comes from fees and penal charges on overdue payments (reported).
• Lending is funded by partner banks and non-banks rather than only the company's own balance sheet (reported).
• Partners cited include B2B firms and travel and retail brands such as IRCTC, MakeMyTrip, PVR and Yatra (company-stated).

The Numbers: ePayLater Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY22 (year ended March 2022): revenue from operations Rs 7.68 crore, up from Rs 3.83 crore in FY21; total expenditure Rs 32.97 crore; loss Rs 23.95 crore (reported).
• FY23: revenue of about Rs 16 crore and loss after tax of about Rs 23.3 crore (aggregator data, approximate).
• FY21 operating revenue fell 36% (reported).

Market Opportunity for ePayLater

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are the scale of UPI, rising digital lending, growing participation in investing and insurance, and the digitisation of small merchants. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• India has low credit-card penetration, which opens room for pay-later credit at the point of sale.
• Small retailers and kirana stores buy inventory on short credit cycles, which is the segment ePayLater targets.

Technology and Product at ePayLater

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are uptime, security, fraud controls, integrations with banks and the speed of onboarding customers.

• Data-science underwriting using alternate data, with instant decisions (company-stated).
• Launched a UPI-based credit product with IDFC Bank, described by the company as the first of its kind.

Team and Culture at ePayLater

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Akshat Saxena, Aurko Bhattacharya and Uday Somayajula are the most commonly listed founders.
• Stefan van den Berg, founder of Afterpay, is listed as a strategic advisor (company-stated).

ePayLater Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for ePayLater

• Losses of roughly Rs 24 crore a year against revenue of Rs 8-16 crore point to heavy cash burn.
• Relies on partner lenders for funding, so credit supply and pricing depend on others.
• Credit losses on small retailers and consumers could rise in a downturn.
• Funding and founder data differ across sources, so some figures are approximate.
• Regulatory risk: rules from the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI or NPCI can change economics or business scope quickly.
• Concentration risk: dependence on a few partners, banks or payment rails can create single points of failure.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and NPCI.

ePayLater Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• The September 2021 funds were to be used to expand reach across more retailers and enhance the product suite (company-stated).
• No later priced round was found beyond an undisclosed incubator-type entry in 2024 in one database.
• Key indicators: transaction value, take rate, active users, credit quality and cost of acquiring each customer.
• Funding position: Whether ePayLater can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and NPCI.

Industry Context: Where ePayLater Fits

India's financial technology sector has been shaped by public digital infrastructure, especially UPI, along with Aadhaar-based identity, the account aggregator framework and regulation from the RBI, SEBI and IRDAI. These rails let startups reach customers and merchants at very low cost, but also expose them to fast-changing rules on licensing, data and lending conduct.

As payments become a low-margin commodity, fintech companies increasingly compete on distribution, merchant services, credit, wealth and insurance products. Sustainable profit usually depends on compliance strength, cost control and the quality of customer relationships rather than transaction volume alone.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for ePayLater

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for ePayLater.

Bull case

• Digital payments and credit continue to grow, widening the market.
• Strong compliance and distribution create durable advantages.
• Cross-selling to existing customers can lift revenue per user.

Bear case

• Regulatory shifts can change economics overnight.
• Free or low-fee products make profit hard to reach.
• Fraud, outages and partner dependence can hurt trust.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from ePayLater

Studying a company in the BNPL and B2B credit space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about ePayLater.

• Compliance is a growth enabler in financial services, not just a cost, because licences decide what a company is allowed to sell.
• Distribution and customer trust often matter more than the underlying payment or lending technology.
• Products that earn from services and credit tend to be steadier than ones that depend on free transactions.
• Dependence on a single bank partner or rail creates risk that should be managed early.
• Fraud prevention and uptime are core product features, not back-office tasks.

How to Evaluate ePayLater as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can ePayLater name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

ePayLater is part of India’s growing BNPL and B2B credit ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

ePayLater FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is ePayLater?

ePayLater is a buy-now-pay-later and B2B credit company based in Mumbai, India, that offers credit to retailers and businesses. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded ePayLater?

ePayLater was founded by Akshat Saxena, Aurko Bhattacharya, Uday Somayajula, and the company reports a founding year of 2015.

How much funding has ePayLater raised?

About $15.7 million across several rounds (reports differ; one profile's table lists only about $5.7 million in disclosed amounts). Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does ePayLater make money?

ePayLater earns revenue from its BNPL and B2B credit products and services sold to consumers, merchants, banks, lenders and enterprises. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of ePayLater?

Reported rivals include LazyPay, Simpl, Rupifi, Moneyview. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for ePayLater?

Main risks include rules from the rbi, sebi, irdai or npci can change economics or business scope quickly, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and NPCI. This is educational content, not investment advice.

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Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.