A digital payments and financial services startup, instantPay has announced that it has secured its pre-Series A funding round from Singapore-based investors – RB Investment and Kaleden Holdings.
“It is rare to find a small company that has remained cash positive in this industry,” Gurinder Singh, the managing director at Kaleden Holdings commented in regards to the investment.
The exact amount raised was not disclosed, but it was reportedly said to be in the range of Rs 20 crore to Rs 34 crore (about US$3 to US$5 million).
These latest proceedings will be used for talent acquisition, developing new products as well as the geographical expansion across India. Additionally, part of the New Delhi startup funding will also be used for brand-building and marketing.
Launched in 2012 by Sankalp Shangari, Shailendra Agarwal, and Mohammad Rehan, instantPay is a business unit of SMSdaak India Limited, which provides more than 100 products and services which facilitate digital payments at Kirana stores in tier-2 and 3 cities.
The products and services are distributed through over 400 corporate strategic alliances and through a nationwide network of micro-merchants, offering services which include electronic mobile recharges, DTH and utility bill payments, insurance premium payments, travel bookings, domestic remittance etc.
Additionally, their financial institutions and merchants can also provide a host of supplementary services to their consumers, thus up-selling and cross-selling their existing portfolios. The platform currently has over 62,000 merchants and targets to cross 120,000 merchants by March 2017.
“While we build this massive network, we are also enabling other products and services to be delivered via this distribution directly and efficiently,” said Sankalp Shangari, the cofounder of instantPay.
At the moment, instantPay claims to be processing around 10 million transactions per month and is looking to touch the 50 million mark by FY18.
Besides, the company has also been profitable, having closed FY16 “net positive in a few lakh”. For FY17, the startup is aiming at a 20% leap in growth with a four-fold jump in revenue for FY18.
“Companies should target to make unit economics sustainable before taking long bets in the market and aggressively aiming for market share,” said Rajesh Bothra, the Managing Director at RB investments.
The investors also add that the key challenge for companies in this space in the upcoming year would be to mitigate cyber security risks following a surge in business due to demonetisation.
At present, the company’s network comprises of more than 50,000 outlets across districts in India, for leading telcos and direct to home service providers.
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
Leave a Reply