Axio's checkout-credit bet: Amazon buys the BNPL lender for ~$150-200M, closed Sept 2025

Bengaluru digital lender (started as Capital Float) offering buy-now-pay-later and small personal loans at checkout on e-commerce platforms, run as a regulated non-bank finance company.

A regulated NBFC deciding credit in two clicks and five seconds can safely lend at checkout to Indians banks ignore — Amazon-scale distribution makes BNPL a business.

Founded in 2013 in Bengaluru by Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja as CapFloat/Capital Float, the company lent to SMEs through a tech-led loan-origination and underwriting platform. India's low credit-card penetration and banks' reluctance to make small loans profitable left most consumers without checkout financing.

In 2018 the founders bought 60% of personal-finance app Walnut and moved into consumer lending, rebranding under the Axio name in 2022. Axio pioneered BNPL with online merchants and built a six-year partnership powering Amazon Pay Later; it reported 10M+ customers, AUM of ₹2,200 crore, and FY24 losses narrowed 86% to ₹18 crore on income of ₹384 crore (Entrepreneur India). Amazon, which first took an 8% stake in 2018 and added a $20M Smbhav Venture Fund investment in August 2024, signed an acquisition agreement in December 2024.

After RBI approval, Amazon completed the acquisition on September 4, 2025, making Axio a 100%-owned subsidiary of Amazon India while keeping its leadership team; people familiar with the transaction put its size at $150-200M, among Amazon's larger deals in India.

Traditional banks found small consumer and merchant loans unprofitable, leaving checkout-time credit almost nonexistent in India.

Axio's regulated NBFC license let it originate and hold credit itself rather than depend on a bank partner.

The 2018 Walnut acquisition gave Axio a consumer app and the decision to specialize in fast, checkout-time BNPL underwriting.

Six years inside Amazon Pay Later proved the model at scale: over 10 million customers reached before the acquisition closed.

Amazon bought the capability it already depended on, turning a startup into a core part of its India lending strategy.

A distribution partner that already owns the checkout can turn an underwriting capability into a strategic asset — the acquirer buys the license and the model, not just the loan book.

As of September 4, 2025, Axio operates as a 100%-owned subsidiary of Amazon India with its co-founders and leadership team in place. Amazon said the purchase strengthens Amazon Pay Later's checkout financing and term-loan capabilities and positions it to expand lending to more customers and small businesses; YourStory reported plans for BNPL, term consumer loans and working-capital lines for marketplace sellers. The founders framed the next step as taking digital lending to the next 100 million Indians.