Navi has raised $100 million from Prosus, the first institutional money the fintech has taken since Sachin Bansal founded it eight years ago on his own capital.

The deal runs through MIH Payments Holdings BV, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Prosus NV, and buys the Dutch investor a minority stake. Indian Startup News reports the Competition Commission of India has already cleared the transaction, finding no adverse effect on competition.

A valuation a third below the original ask

Navi has not disclosed terms of the round.

An ET report cited by Entrackr and Indian Startup News puts the valuation at roughly $1.3 billion, or about ₹13,500 crore. That is well short of the $2 billion figure Navi was seeking when it first approached external investors in 2024, according to a TechCrunch report from that year.

Moneycontrol has separately reported that Navi tapped Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan for a ₹3,000 crore IPO targeting a $2 billion valuation. The Prosus price undercuts that target by roughly a third.

A second run at going public

The funding lands as Navi prepares another listing attempt.

TechCrunch and Business Standard report the company is seeking roughly $300-314 million in an IPO for which it has already appointed bankers, according to Business Standard.

TechCrunch notes Navi abandoned a $440 million IPO plan in 2022, making this the company’s second attempt at a public listing in three years.

The two men behind the cheque

Prosus India Investments head Ashutosh Sharma, quoted by Business Standard and Indian Startup News, credited Navi’s execution over the past 12 months and said Bansal shares the firm’s approach to building companies over the long term.

Bansal, quoted by Crowdfund Insider, welcomed the investment.

Navi’s own target when it began seeking outside capital was double the price Prosus ultimately paid.

Sources

Reporting compiled and contextualised by TechScoop India. Figures reconciled across the sources above.

Originally reported by entrackr.