Lendingkart Taps Amazon Talent For New Hire

India-based small business lender Lendingkart has secured new talent from top names. The company has reportedly hired a former Amazon executive as its new chief revenue officer and a former PayU India executive as SVP of products.

Reports on Tuesday (Aug. 23) said Vishal Chopra, a former executive at Amazon India, will join the team as CRO, while Nihit Nirmal, formerly of PayU India, will join as SVP of products.

“Lendingkart Group NBFC has emerged as a leader in enabling financial assistance to SMEs, and I am pleased to contribute to overall vision of the group,” said Chopra in a statement. “In my new role, I will be looking at strengthening the existing revenue lines and introducing new lines of business.”

Chopra added that marketing, customer experience and sales will also be areas of focus as he helps Lendingkart continue expansion.

In another statement, Nirmal pointed to the role Lendingkart plays in India’s support of small businesses.

“I firmly believe that tech-driven SMEs will play a huge role in India’s next phase of growth,” he said. “Lendingkart Group is a promising platform that is working towards making loans more accessible to this sector. My focus will be to help expand its horizons by building technology products that solve problems of capital accessibility for SMEs.”

Nirmal will focus on new product development and adoption, reports said, and will help Lendingkart provide financing to SMEs with “zero human intervention.”

Reports added that Lendingkart’s new hires come as the company works towards achieving its goal of providing financing assistance to 50 million SMEs in India.

Last year, Lendingkart announced a $10 million Series A funding round led by Saama Capital, Mayfield Fund, Shailesh Mehta and Ashvin Chadha. At the time, the company operated across 50 cities and 17 states in India. Earlier this year, it struck again with a $32 million Series B funding round led by Bertelsmann India Investments.