Mumbai, July 15: Loan distributor Andromeda has acquired apnapaisa.com, an online loan facilitator, in a stock-and-cash deal.

The transaction, whose value was not disclosed, comes at a time the online financial marketplace is witnessing greater investor interest.

Recently, BankBazaar.com raised Rs 375 crore in funding led by Amazon, Fidelity Growth Partners and Mousse Partners besides its existing investors, including Sequoia Capital and Walden International. Earlier in April, insurance policy aggregator PolicyBazaar raised funds from Premji Invest, Tiger Global and Steadview Capital.

Andromeda, which began as a direct sales associate for Citibank in 1991, has a presence in more than 30 cities.

The company maintains that the acquisition of apnapaisa.com will help it to consolidate its position in the online loan solutions space. "With this, Apnapaisa's technology will be the engine of growth of Andromeda in the coming years," the company said in a statement.

Andromeda has 1,000 employees and distributes close to Rs 8,000-crore loans annually. It has a customer base of more than one lakh.

On the other hand, apnapaisa.com, which commenced operations in 2007, was promoted by Harsh Roongta, a personal finance professional. It helps customers to find the best possible loans in home, personal, business and property segments.

Andromeda chief executive V. Swaminathan said, "It is natural for the company to accelerate its process of growth by leveraging apnapaisa's digital strength. Moving into online space will further strengthen our well-established track record."

According to Naresh Daga, co-founder and CEO of apnapaisa.com, the acquisition will not only generate additional business but also enable Andromeda to benefit from the management strength of apnapaisa to digitise the business.

He said the deal would consolidate the company's position in the housing segment, which was slated for rapid growth.