money, funding, ian

As internet users continue to rise at double figure rates in India, startups catering specifically to the smartphone segment have started attracting massive investor capital. Mswipe, a startup founded 4 years ago, and which provides a Mobile PoS (point of sales) system, has nabbed $25 Million in fresh funding, led by US hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital, Meru Capital and cab-hailing service Ola Cabs.

The investment, which was closed last week, will be used by the company to significantly grow business, and expand its network to one million merchants by 2020, says Founder and CEO Manish Patel. While the startup confirmed this investment to Economic Times, Ola, Falcon and Meru did not respond. Interestingly, Falcon Edge is also an investors in Ola Cabs.

Also, this is Ola’s first strategic investment, pretty much in line with the direction company is taking up. On the contrary, Ola’s fiercest rival in India, Uber, has made several acquisitions to bolster its tech. It is however yet to acquire a company in India.

Talking about the investment to ET, Patel said,

The ambition is to significantly grow our business, and expand our network to one million merchants by 2020. There are 10-12 million SMEs in India, while only about 5,00,000 have PoS terminals currently.

While there are numerous other startups in India, providing similar functionalities, mSwipe says that its focus isn’t on the device, but is rather on acquiring merchants. The startup has close to 30,000 merchants on its platform already.

The stake acquired by investors and company valuation were not disclosed by Patel. Prior to this current round, mSwipe had raised a Series B round from Matrix Partners, Axis Bank and DSG Consumer Partners, to the north of $7 Million.


 

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