One of India’s largest independent mobile payments network, MobiKwik, today announced that it will be working together with Walmart, allowing the mobile payment firm to power 20 of Walmart’s Best Price Modern Wholesale stores in nine states.
The partnership makes MobiKwik exclusive payments partner to Walmart and offers members, its Best Price program, which comprises of small businesses and kirana stores and offers a secure, swift and convenient payment option across channels.
Founded in April 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, the company had aims at easing payment problems faced by online users in India. Mobikwik currently claims to connect over 17 million users with 50,000 retailers through its platform. It enables users to discover retailers (brick-and-mortar stores, e-com websites, m-com apps, billers, telcos) and then start paying them with a single tap.
MobiKwik has raised almost $30 million in funding till now from Sequoia Capital, American Express, Tree Line Asia, and Cisco Investments.
Notable clients of this company include Uber, Meru Cabs, Big Bazaar, WHSmith India, Café Coffee Day, PVR, BookMyShow, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Star Sports, GoDaddy, eBay, ShopClues, Myntra, Jabong, Pepperfry, HomeShop18, MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, and Yatra.
As part of the new partnership, MobiKwik will allow instant one-tap payments for transactions placed through the Best Price mobile app. Users will also be able to use the MobiKwik wallet on the Walmart Best Price website and in the physical stores for payments too.
A bonus to this new feature is that users will be able to get instant refunds as opposed to the current policy which involves manual processing and can take up to 7-10 working days.
Besides making payments via the wallet, Best Price members who use MobiKwik will get refunds and incentives from Walmart “instantly” in their wallets. Members will also be able to load cash into their MobiKwik Wallets to make purchases via the Best Price mobile app.
BipinPreet Singh, Founder & CEO, MobiKwik said,
With this partnership, together Walmart and MobiKwik are bringing the power of mobile payments to the lakhs of small businesses and kirana stores in India.
Mobile is now the fastest growing channel for the Indian economy and we are happy to be a part of the Walmart India mobile story. This is just the beginning and we expect the partnership with Walmart to expand in to next level of payment and financial services for BestPrice members in the coming months.
MobiKwik’s long term vision includes powering $5B in payments between 150M users and 500,000 retailers across this heavily developing nation.
Scott Price, President and CEO, Walmart Asia, said
Our new mobile app will give Best Price members a personalized and seamless shopping experience. We understand not just what customers want and need, but also where they want it and how they want to experience it. With our size and scale in India, we can serve customers quickly and more effectively with the whole range of channels we are offering.
The service will be available across all popular platforms including Android, iOS and Windows and also on their official website MobiKwik.com.
