DPDzero Raises $7 Million to Revolutionize Debt Collection with AI

Fintech startup DPDzero raises $7 million in funding round led by GMO Venture Partners - The Economic Times

Fintech startup DPDzero has raised $7 million in a funding round led by GMO Venture Partners, a Japan-based, fintech-focused venture capital firm. The round also saw participation from SMBC Asia, and Blume Ventures, which doubled down on their investments from the previous round, along with others. The company plans to use the fresh funds to hire its own field collection agents. Bengaluru-based DPDzero helps fintechs, banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and micro-finance institutions (MFIs) in debt collection through artificial intelligence (AI) and human agents. The debt collection company currently partners with various banks and NBFCs, including RBL Bank, IndusInd Bank, L&T Finance and Manappuram Finance. "What we are also going to do with the new capital-raise is our own field collection agents so that we can bring in this new attitude of ethical collections behavior. We want to take care of end-to-end collections for all banks and all NBFCs in the country," founder Ananth Shroff told ET. DPDzero was set up by Shroff and Ranjith Ramchandra in 2022. The fintech company plans to start with field collection agents in Bengaluru. In the coming years, DPDzero said it would also use field agents in states such as Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, as they top the lending charts. The company has so far raised $4.7 million from investors such as Better Capital, Anmol Maini Ventures, India Quotient, and so on, according to Tracxn. DPDzero, which currently processes collections of unsecured borrowings, said it plans to also try collections against personal loans and credit card lending. It has handled collections from 1 crore borrowers so far and is currently doing the same with 18 lakh borrowers, on a monthly basis. "Over the past decade, we have been deeply committed to India's fintech ecosystem. As the credit landscape matures, collections remain its most under-served frontier... We are proud to back the founders as they reimagine collections for India," said Ryu Muramatsu, a founding partner of GMO Ventures Partners.

Debt collection fintech DPDZero raises $7m in funding

This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. With a vision to build India's best collections company, DPDzero has announced raising $7million in Series-A funding led by GMO VenturePartners - Japan's premier fintech focused VC, SMBC Asia Rising Fund, and Blume Ventures, which has doubled down since the previous round. It also saw participation from India Quotient, Sinarmas Group and others. This capital will fuel the development of DPDzero's multi-lingual AI collection agent and power the launch of a network of professional field collection agents, laying down the high-performance collections infrastructure that Indian financial institutions need. "Collection has been the ignored stepchild of lending; it's low tech, low intelligence, and worryingly, low ethics, as well. We are building the collections company India has been waiting for - reinventing everything from the ground up, bringing back the dignity it really deserves." - Ananth Shroff, CEO & Founder of DPDzero shares his motivation. DPDzero blends behavioural data, AI agents, and razor-sharp human ops to deliver collection outcomes that outperform the industry without compromising on borrower experience. While most large lenders still rely on outdated agencies or bloated in-house teams, DPDzero is building what the market actually needs: a high-efficiency, high-empathy collection machine that scales. "Collections is the least evolved part of India's lending stack and DPDzero is playing a key role changing that. Their ability to combine emerging tech, human ops and borrower intelligence has made a great difference for us at Moneyview, both in terms of collections velocity and borrower experience. This is the future of collections and we're glad to be ahead of the curve" - Rahul Patidar, CRO at Moneyview shares his views about DPDzero. In the last 18 months, DPDzero's revenue has grown by 6X, becoming the trusted collections partner for leading Fintechs and NBFCs like Tata Capital, Moneyview, L&T Finance, Manappuram Finance, and others with India's largest banks expected to onboard shortly. "Over the past decade, GMO VenturePartners has been deeply committed to India's fintech ecosystem. As the credit landscape matures, collections remain its most under-served frontier. We believe DPDzero is building the foundational collections infrastructure by combining AI, execution-first DNA, and the kind of founder obsession required to disrupt the category. We're proud to back Ananth and Ranjith as they reimagine collections for India. "- Ryu Muramatsu - Founding Partner of GMO VenturesPartners "As digital lending expands into emerging and diverse markets, the ability to manage collections with consistency and compliance becomes increasingly important. By redefining debt collection through AI-driven personalization and real-time borrower protection, we believe that DPDzero is helping build a more efficient and responsible financial ecosystem," said Keiji Matsunaga, General Manager of the Digital Strategy Department at SMBC. "When we first backed DPDzero, we bet on two relentless founders chasing an unsexy but massive problem. Today, they've built a product lenders love, scaled revenues 6X, and are winning serious institutional trust. We're doubling down and backing their vision. This isn't just a collections company, it's the company that will define how collections in India should work." - Sajith Pai, Partner at Blume ventures India is headed toward a $6 trillion credit economy, but the ability to lend will depend on the ability to collect. Collections is no longer a back-office function - it's a growth enabler and trust engine for financial institutions. DPDzero is pioneering an ethics-first, tech-led approach to lead India's collections revolution.