In a significant move that underlines the rising importance of modern, AI-driven debt recovery solutions, fintech startup DPDzero has secured USD 7 million (~INR 61.41 crore) in Series A funding, marking a pivotal moment in India’s lending ecosystem. DPDzero Series A round was led by GMO VenturePartners, a premier Japan-based fintech venture capital firm, along with SMBC Asia Rising Fund and Blume Ventures, which has doubled down on its earlier investments. The round also saw participation from India Quotient, Sinarmas Group, and several strategic angels and institutional backers.
Founded in March 2022 by Ananth Shroff and Ranjith Ramachandra, DPDzero has been quietly but rapidly building what many are calling the next-generation collections infrastructure for India’s booming credit economy.
A Deep Tech Pivot to Collections
Debt collection has long been the underdog of the lending value chain—plagued by outdated practices, low technology adoption, and ethical concerns. “Collection has been the ignored stepchild of lending—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,” said CEO Ananth Shroff.
DPDzero’s platform blends AI agents, behavioural data, and human operations to create a high-empathy, high-efficiency recovery engine. Its flagship initiative is a multi-lingual AI collection agent, coupled with a network of professional field collection agents, to ensure seamless, scalable, and respectful borrower engagement.
Strong Traction and Rapid Growth
In just 18 months, DPDzero has achieved 6X revenue growth, establishing itself as the trusted collections partner for prominent financial institutions, including Tata Capital, Moneyview, L&T Finance, and Manappuram Finance. The startup also claims it is in advanced stages of onboarding India’s largest private sector banks, pointing to significant confidence from institutional lenders.
According to Rahul Patidar, Chief Risk Officer at Moneyview, “Collections is the least evolved part of India’s lending stack. DPDzero’s mix of emerging tech, human ops, and borrower intelligence has brought meaningful change. This is the future of collections.”
Investor Confidence and Vision
DPDzero Series A round attracted a global syndicate of investors who see collections not just as a back-office function but a strategic pillar of fintech infrastructure.
“As the credit landscape matures, collections remain its most underserved frontier. DPDzero is building the foundational collections infrastructure with AI, execution-first DNA, and founder obsession,” said Ryu Muramatsu, Founding Partner, GMO VenturePartners.
Keiji Matsunaga, General Manager at SMBC’s Digital Strategy Department, added, “As digital lending expands, consistent and compliant collections become crucial. DPDzero’s AI-driven personalization and borrower protection are key to a responsible ecosystem.”
Blume Ventures’ Sajith Pai, an early backer, emphasized the founders’ grit: “We backed two relentless founders chasing an unsexy but massive problem. Today, with real revenue scale and institutional trust, we’re proud to double down.”
Competitive Landscape and Sector Outlook
DPDzero Series A funding comes amid a wave of investor interest in India’s collections-tech sector, with startups like Rezolv and CredResolve also attracting early-stage capital. Established players such as Credgenics, Spocto X (Yubi), Skit AI, and Creditas Solutions are scaling rapidly, highlighting a growing demand for tech-led, borrower-friendly recovery mechanisms.
However, DPDzero differentiates itself with its full-stack Human + AI approach, built specifically for India’s complex linguistic, regional, and regulatory environment.
Previous Fundraising and Evolution
Before this round, DPDzero had raised:
- USD 3.25 million (~INR 28.51 crore) in October 2023 in seed funding led by Blume Ventures and India Quotient
- INR 3.9 crore (~USD 470K) from Better Capital in an earlier round
- Additional participation from fintech luminaries like Kunal Shah (Cred), Nikhil Kumar (Setu), and Ramanathan RV (Hyperface)
The founders, previously part of fintech infrastructure platform Setu, bring strong product and fintech pedigree.
What’s Next for DPDzero
With fresh capital in hand, DPDzero plans to:
- Expand its AI-powered collection agent across multiple Indian languages
- Build a pan-India field collections network
- Strengthen information security and compliance to onboard large banks, NBFCs, and ARCs
- Continue hiring top talent to fuel execution
As India moves toward a projected USD 6 trillion credit economy, the ability to collect efficiently and ethically is becoming a competitive advantage. Collections is no longer just about recovering dues—it is a growth enabler and trust builder for India’s fintech future.
About DPDzero
DPDzero is a Human + AI Collections Platform that combines automation, behavioral intelligence, and ethical recovery practices to serve India’s leading lenders. The platform is currently managing the repayments of over 1 crore borrowers and is trusted by top fintechs and NBFCs.
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