Few days back we reported that a recent RBI data has revealed that growth of digital payment startups like PayTM, Mobikwik and Freecharge have been spurred by demonetization. Seeing that factor investors are lining up to fund digital payment startups, and as PayTM recently raised whopping $1.4 billion from Softbank and Freecharge's parent company is already down for selling out itself its time for Mobikwik to become next unicorn of India.
According to a report by Techcrunch, Mobikwik's co-founder Upasana Taku confirmed that the company is in talks to raise $100 million--$150 million in a round that would value the company at more than $1 billion, making its entry to India's elite club of Unicorn Startups. Upasana hasn't revealed the investors that her startup is talking to, she however said that the startup would include one major strategic investor and a number of financial institutions.
The possible fund raise will happen in next couple of months and post raising funds Mobikwik plans to invest $45 million of the capital raised on growing user and merchant bases, and expand its current base of six offices to more than 20.
Founded in 2009 by Upasana Taku and Bipin Singh, Gurgaon-based Mobikwik has so far raised about $126.85M in 6 rounds from 9 investors including Sequoia Capital and Tree Line Asia, among others.
Paytm, on other hand, has raised over $2.5 billion from investors with valuation of about $7 billion, and is now second most valuable tech startup in India behind only Flipkart.
Both -- Mobikwik and Payt -- claims to have ridden the wave of demonetization. Mobikwik has registered userbase jumped from 25 million to 55 million, while its merchant base rose to 1.5 million from 250,000 before demonetization. While PaTM is momving to e-commerce segment due to Alibaba's influence MobiKwik, however, has ambitious target is to sustain only the mobile wallet growth and reach 100 million users and 10 million merchants in the next year.
In May 2016 Mobikwik began providing small loans to consumers as part of its service. The company launched its MobiKwik Lite mobile app in November 2016, designed for users of older 2G mobile networks and for those in areas with poor internet connectivity.
In 2014, MobiKwik had also won the mBillionth Award South Asia in the category of Mobile Business, for socially valuable contributions to South Asia's digital infrastructure.
According to a report by Techcrunch, Mobikwik's co-founder Upasana Taku confirmed that the company is in talks to raise $100 million--$150 million in a round that would value the company at more than $1 billion, making its entry to India's elite club of Unicorn Startups. Upasana hasn't revealed the investors that her startup is talking to, she however said that the startup would include one major strategic investor and a number of financial institutions.
The possible fund raise will happen in next couple of months and post raising funds Mobikwik plans to invest $45 million of the capital raised on growing user and merchant bases, and expand its current base of six offices to more than 20.
Founded in 2009 by Upasana Taku and Bipin Singh, Gurgaon-based Mobikwik has so far raised about $126.85M in 6 rounds from 9 investors including Sequoia Capital and Tree Line Asia, among others.
Paytm, on other hand, has raised over $2.5 billion from investors with valuation of about $7 billion, and is now second most valuable tech startup in India behind only Flipkart.
Both -- Mobikwik and Payt -- claims to have ridden the wave of demonetization. Mobikwik has registered userbase jumped from 25 million to 55 million, while its merchant base rose to 1.5 million from 250,000 before demonetization. While PaTM is momving to e-commerce segment due to Alibaba's influence MobiKwik, however, has ambitious target is to sustain only the mobile wallet growth and reach 100 million users and 10 million merchants in the next year.
In May 2016 Mobikwik began providing small loans to consumers as part of its service. The company launched its MobiKwik Lite mobile app in November 2016, designed for users of older 2G mobile networks and for those in areas with poor internet connectivity.
In 2014, MobiKwik had also won the mBillionth Award South Asia in the category of Mobile Business, for socially valuable contributions to South Asia's digital infrastructure.
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