After Years of Going It Alone, Navi Raises $100 Mn From Prosus

After spending years largely bankrolled by founder Sachin Bansal, Navi has finally brought a major institutional investor onto its cap table. Prosus invested $100 million in the fintech on August 19, marking Navi’s first big external equity round and effectively ending the company’s long solo run under Bansal’s personal capital.

The cheque comes after a difficult few years. Bansal had invested close to ₹3,150 crore of his own money into Navi, building businesses across lending, insurance, mutual funds and payments. But the company’s banking ambitions stalled after the RBI rejected Chaitanya India’s universal banking licence application in 2022, while a planned ₹3,350 crore IPO was cleared by SEBI but never launched. Navi later sold Chaitanya to Svatantra Microfin for ₹1,479 crore.

Regulatory pressure also hit its core lending business. In 2024, the RBI temporarily stopped Navi Finserv from sanctioning and disbursing new loans over concerns around lending rates and borrower assessment practices. The restrictions were lifted later that year after changes to internal processes, followed by a leadership restructuring that moved Bansal into the role of executive chairman.

At the same time, Navi has built fresh momentum. Its lending AUM has crossed ₹13,000 crore, while its UPI app has climbed to fourth place nationally with roughly 3% of transaction volumes by mid-2026. The company also says it returned to consolidated profitability in Q4 FY26, although its full-year loss widened to ₹466 crore from ₹126 crore in FY25 as it spent heavily on UPI and newer businesses.

Prosus’ investment therefore lands at an important point in Navi’s journey. Reports suggest the round values the company at around $1.3 billion, below the roughly $2 billion valuation discussed in earlier fundraising attempts. For Navi, the deal brings fresh growth capital and institutional validation. For Bansal, it marks a shift from building the fintech largely on his own balance sheet to preparing it for a more investor-backed — and potentially public-market — future.