Ring (formerly Kissht) is a consumer lending fintech company based in Mumbai, India, that offers loans, bill payments and UPI payments to retail borrowers through its app.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what Ring 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.

Ring in Brief

• What it is: Ring is an Indian Consumer credit and payments company based in Mumbai.
• Who it serves: consumers, merchants, banks, lenders and enterprises.
• RING is a consumer credit and payments app from OnEMi Technology Solutions, offering instant loans at digital and physical points of sale and via merchant checkouts.
• It started as a millennial-focused digital card and payments app with credit lines for e-commerce, merchant payments and peer-to-peer transfers.
• Earlier coverage says loans of up to Rs 5 lakh with bill and UPI payments; sources differ on whether RING is 'erstwhile Kissht' or a separate app from the Kissht flagship.
• Funding: Reported: parent OnEMi has raised well over $150 million in equity and debt, per a data platform cited in coverage.

Ring 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 Ring?

Ring operates in the Consumer credit and payments 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 Ring.

• RING is a consumer credit and payments app from OnEMi Technology Solutions, offering instant loans at digital and physical points of sale and via merchant checkouts.
• It started as a millennial-focused digital card and payments app with credit lines for e-commerce, merchant payments and peer-to-peer transfers.
• Earlier coverage says loans of up to Rs 5 lakh with bill and UPI payments; sources differ on whether RING is 'erstwhile Kissht' or a separate app from the Kissht flagship.
• Parent OnEMi also runs Kissht and a pilot platform Conexo for sourcing retail loans for other institutions.

The Origin Story of Ring

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: Krishnan Vishwanathan, Ranvir Singh.
• OnEMi Technology Solutions was founded in 2015 by former McKinsey consultants Krishnan Vishwanathan and Ranvir Singh; it is Mumbai based.
• Neha Shivran (ex-LenddoEFL and TransUnion CIBIL) joined in 2019 and was elevated to cofounder and chief data and growth officer.
• RING launched in 2022 as a payments and credit product from Kissht, alongside an $80 million raise.

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 Consumer credit and payments 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: Parent founded.
• 2022: Trifecta Capital co-led a Rs 100 crore round with Northern Arc.
• June 2022: $80 million round led by Vertex Growth and Brunei Investment Agency, at about $500 million valuation; RING launched.
• April 2024: Rs 100 crore venture debt from Trifecta Capital.

Ring 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.

• 2022: Rs 100 crore co-led by Trifecta Capital and Northern Arc.
• June 2022: $80 million (reported as Series D or E) led by Vertex Growth and Brunei Investment Agency, with Vertex Ventures SEA & India and Endiya Partners participating; valuation about $450-500 million.
• April 2024: Rs 100 crore venture debt from Trifecta Capital.
• August 2025: IPO filing with fresh issue up to Rs 1,000 crore, Rs 750 crore earmarked for subsidiary Si Creva Capital.

How Does Ring 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.

• Parent earns interest on loans, processing, late payment and foreclosure fees and insurance distribution commissions.
• Loans are both on-book and off-book funded by partner financial institutions (39% off-book at March 2025).
• RING works through merchant checkouts and POS systems with plug-and-play APIs.

The Numbers: Ring 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.

• Parent OnEMi, FY25: revenue from operations Rs 1,337 crore (down 20% from Rs 1,674 crore), net profit Rs 161 crore (down 18.5% from Rs 197 crore).
• Parent, March 2025: AUM Rs 4,087 crore; gross NPA 2.89% vs 0.79% a year earlier.
• RING-level (FY24, company-stated): AUM about Rs 3,000 crore and 1 crore borrowers served.

Market Opportunity for Ring

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's unsecured consumer lending and BNPL segment, with revenue pressure from RBI tightening in November 2023 on unsecured retail loans.

Technology and Product at Ring

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.

• Uses machine learning and AI to assess creditworthiness and generate pre-approved offers via gateway APIs.

Team and Culture at Ring

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.

• Krishnan Vishwanathan and Ranvir Singh are founders; Neha Shivran is cofounder and chief data and growth officer.

Ring 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 Ring

• Business relies almost entirely on unsecured lending; gross NPAs rose to 2.89% in FY25.
• Operating cash flow negative at about Rs 661 crore (parent).
• RBI inspection of subsidiary Si Creva flagged issues; ED summons in 2023 under PMLA (company says no further communication).
• Parent figures above are the parent's, not RING alone.
• 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.

Ring Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• IPO proceeds of up to Rs 1,000 crore fresh issue intended to capitalise the lending subsidiary.
• Growth depends on asset quality and funding costs.
• Key indicators: transaction value, take rate, active users, credit quality and cost of acquiring each customer.
• Funding position: Whether Ring can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and NPCI.

Industry Context: Where Ring 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 Ring

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 Ring.

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 Ring

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

• 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 Ring as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can Ring 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

Ring is part of India’s growing Consumer credit and payments 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.

Ring FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Ring?

RING (formerly Kissht) is a consumer lending fintech company based in Mumbai, India, that offers loans, bill payments and UPI payments to retail borrowers through its app. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded Ring?

Ring was founded by Krishnan Vishwanathan, Ranvir Singh, and the company reports a founding year of 2015 (OnEMi Technology Solutions, the parent).

How much funding has Ring raised?

Reported: parent OnEMi has raised well over $150 million in equity and debt, per a data platform cited in coverage. Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does Ring make money?

Ring earns revenue from its Consumer credit and payments 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 Ring?

Reported rivals include slice, OneCard, UNI. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for Ring?

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.