In a year that has been full of bearish market conditions, falling stock prices, layoffs, cooling of investor interest, and a funding crunch, fintech unicorn Razorpay has been on an acquisition spree. Over the past nine months, it brought into the fold digital payment player Ezetap (in August), payments tech startup IZealiant Technologies (in March), and Malaysia-based Curlec (in February). Now, the list has expanded to include fintech startup PoshVine.
The acquisition’s financial terms have not been disclosed, only that PoshVine’s entire team will be joining Razorpay to help it build a payment-linked loyalty infrastructure for banks, payment networks, and businesses.
“Our mission has always been to build a financial ecosystem for businesses around payments & banking. Loyalty has been a core need of banks & merchants and our acquisition of Poshvine is a key step towards enabling further growth for our partner businesses,” said Shashank Kumar, MD and co-founder, Razorpay.
“With an increasing percentage of customer spends moving online, there is a massive opportunity to help banks and merchants engage with their customers across the lifecycle using payment-linked loyalty including rewards, offers, and redemption of loyalty points,” he added.
Not only is the acquisition the seventh one by Razorpay so far, it also marks its maiden journey into the loyalty and rewards management sector. This segment has clocked a steady growth over the months, and if Razorpay successfully adds it to its arsenal, then it will gain an edge over its competitors, which include PayPal, Stripe, Square, PayU, and others.
For its part, the 11-year-old PoshVine seems to be a suitable investment on Razorpay’s part. Founded by Garima Satija and Richik Nandi, the startup is known to offer payment-linked loyalty and engagement solutions to banks, payment networks, and businesses. It also claims to deliver personalized, and context-aware experiences to individuals by providing brands and developers with the necessary tools to build contextual loyalty and engagement experiences for their users.
Apart from its suite of offers and rewards management solutions, PoshVine’s offerings include a Loyalty-as-a-Service product to over 20 banks and networks, including as SBI Card, HDFC Bank, IDFC FIRST Bank, AU Bank, DBS, Visa and Amex, and claims to have grown by three times in FY22.
“While we have introduced significant innovations focused primarily on Banks, we have a large opportunity to deepen our relationships with both Banks and Merchants and help them maximize their share of spends. My Co-Founder Garima and I, welcome the opportunity to scale this vision together with Razorpay. Given the synergies between our cultures, values, and our visions, we look forward to transforming customer engagement for banks & merchants and creating a greater impact and experience for end,” said Richik Nandi, co-founder and CEO of PoshVine.
