MobiKwik raises Rs 225 Cr from NBFC firm Bajaj Finance

After some speculation in media, mobile-based payment company MobiKwik has announced to raise Rs 225 crore from Bajaj Finance.

The non-banking finance company (NBFC) Bajaj Finance announced the investment on Bombay Stock Exchange stating that it had “entered into a Subscription Agreement with One MobiKwik Systems Private Limited for acquisition of 10 Equity shares and 271,050 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS).”

Post conversion of CCPS, Bajaj Finance would hold approximately 10.83 per cent of equity in MobiKwik on a fully diluted basis, approximately valuing it over Rs 2,000 crore.

Before this funding, the mobile payment platform MobiKwik has so far raised $80 million from various investors such as Sequoia Capital, American Express, Tree Line Asia, Cisco Investment, and Mediatek.

The company is still looking forward to raise another round of funding at a valuation of $1 billion.

It has a userbase of 55 million and 1.5 million merchants and claims to be growing at 250 per cent year-on-year.

Besides, the company also aims to go beyond the wallet space and explore an opportunity in the lending segment. It is looking to begin with the auto insurance and cashless mediclaim segments by partnering with banks and non-banking financial institutions.

MobiKwik will give users credit lines of Rs 1 lakh in tie-ups with banks and NBFCs; offering personal loans to millions outside the net of traditional banks because of their poor credit-worthiness; selling insurance to shopkeepers; and getting into auto insurance and cashless mediclaim segments.