The Rise and Graceful Exit (or Fall)  of Axio (erstwhile Capital Float).

Amazon has completed its acquisition of the Indian digital lending and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) startup Axio (formerly known as Capital Float). The final clearance from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was secured in June 2025, with the deal officially closing in early September 2025. 

Key details of the deal:

Purpose: The acquisition allows Amazon to significantly expand its financial services offerings in India, providing the company with a direct lending license through Axio's status as a non-banking financial company (NBFC).

Deal size: While Amazon did not officially disclose the terms, sources report the transaction to be valued at around $200 million.

Expansion of services: The deal will enable Amazon to offer a wider range of credit products, including expanded checkout financing options for consumers and loans for small and medium businesses.

Ongoing operations: Axio will continue to operate under its current leadership team as a 100% subsidiary of Amazon.

Existing partnership: This move builds on an existing six-year partnership in which Axio powered Amazon Pay's "Buy Now, Pay Later" service.

Exit for investors: All of Axio's prior investors will fully exit the company as a result of the acquisition. 

Founded in 2013 by Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja under the name Capital Float, Axio began by offering financing solutions for SMEs in India. 

Over time, it pivoted sharply into consumer lending, with a particular focus on buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services—a shift that gained traction during the pandemic and catapulted the business forward .

The company grew rapidly. Partnering with Amazon, Axio powered the marketplace’s BNPL offerings starting around 2018, allowing it to scale without incurring high customer acquisition costs. By leveraging this partnership—with Amazon responsible for customer acquisition—Axio kept its customer acquisition cost (CAC) at zero .

Between FY23 and FY24, Axio’s financial performance improved dramatically: revenue doubled, jumping from ₹220 crore to ₹428 crore, while annual losses dropped from ₹138 crore to just ₹17–18 crore . Asset quality remained solid, with AuM (assets under management) hitting ₹2,200 crore and gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratios staying at a modest 2–3% . By early 2025, Axio was serving 10 million customers .

Under the hood, Axio was well capitalized. According to listings, it had raised over USD 157 million in equity and USD 671 million in debt, with its equity base including investments from Amazon (around 17%), Lightrock, Peak XV (formerly Sequoia Capital India), Ribbit Capital, Elevation Capital, and others . Notably, in August 2024, Amazon’s SMBhav Fund infused an additional USD 20 million, underscoring its commitment to the fintech startup .

However, as digital lending came under regulatory scrutiny—especially unsecured consumer credit, driven by RBI’s clampdown and rising loan defaults in the broader fintech sector—Axio’s valuation began to erode. Once valued at around USD 350 million in 2019, its worth dipped amid stress in its ed-tech loan book .

In December 2024, after years of careful collaboration and a successful partnership with Amazon, Axio signed a definitive acquisition agreement with the e-commerce giant . Regulatory clearance followed, and by September 4, 2025, Amazon completed the all-cash acquisition, reported to be worth approximately USD 200 million—a figure confirmed by multiple sources even though not officially disclosed .

Through this deal, Amazon not only absorbed Axio’s robust lending infrastructure and customer base, but also gained access to a coveted NBFC (Non-Banking Financial Company) license—a regulatory door that furthers its ambitions in direct lending across India .

This journey underscores the classic arc of a startup: bold beginnings, meteoric growth, strategic pivots, investor backing, regulatory headwinds, and eventual consolidation via acquisition. In Axio’s case, what some might call a “fall” was perhaps more of a graceful exit—its core mission now amplified under Amazon’s vast ecosystem.

Team- Intellex Strategic Consulting Private Limited

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