MobiKwik raises INR225 crore capital from Bajaj Finance

MobiKwik, the digital payments company, has raised INR225 crore from Bajaj Finance with the latter acquiring 10 Equity shares and 271,050 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS). Post conversion of CCPS, Bajaj Finance would hold approximately 10.83% of equity in MobiKwik on a fully diluted basis, approximately valuing it over INR2,000 crore. The startup has raised $80 billion till now from major investors including Sequoia Capital, American Express, Tree Line Asia, Cisco Investment, and Mediatek.

The startup has 55 million users and 1.5 million merchants and claims to be growing at 250% y-o-y. Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku as an online platform for recharging and paying bills for mobile phone and satellite TV connections, it launched its digital wallet in 2013 after getting Reserve Bank of India’s approval. MobiKwik is now looking to begin with the auto insurance and cashless mediclaim segments by partnering with banks and non-banking financial institutions. It has also recently built a customized, co-branded wallet for the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, which will also give the digital payments player access to millions of customers of the state-owned telecom company.