Digital mobile wallet firm Mobikwik revenue declines, losses rose to Rs 131 Cr

Home-grown digital wallet company Mobikwik has posted a 20.1% jump in losses to Rs 131.1 crore, for FY17, according to the filings with Registrar of Companies (RoC).

The company posted a 1.8% decline in total revenue to Rs 37.3 crore in FY17 as against Rs 38 crore in FY16. Meanwhile, its revenue from operations, other than the finance company, stood at Rs 29.6 crore as against Rs 25 crore in the year-ago period — a rise of 18.4%.

In FY16, Mobikwiks losses widened by 165% to Rs 109.1 crore, compared to losses of Rs 41 crore in FY15. Also, the company’s revenue increased 192% to Rs 38 crore in FY16 from Rs 13.07 crore in FY15.

Mobikwik's ups and downs in 2017

The digital wallet firm is in talks with a clutch of foreign as well as domestic investors to raise over $60 million by the end of current fiscal. The company is also planning to partner banks and NBFCs to provide financial services such as personal loans, insurance and zero interest loans to its users.

Mobikwik claims to have about 65 million users while 2 lakh merchants accept payment via company’s wallet. The company aims to expand its user base to 150 million by the end of 2018. Through aforementioned financial services, Mobikwik expects to break-even in the next 18-24 months.

Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, the Gurugram-based e-wallet company has so far raised over $130 million fundings from likes of Sequoia Capital, Net1, American Express Bajaj Finance amongst others. In 2013, it received a licence from RBI to launch its digital wallet.

Bajaj Finserv had invested $33 million in MobiKwik for an 11% stake in August this year.

In September, MobiKwik had reported missing of over Rs 19 crore from its account and filed an FIR, which alleged that some netizens transferred money from the wallet to different accounts.

The firm had also announced its foray into fintech lending business, followed by MobiKwik’s partnership with IRCTC’s Rail connect app. In July, this year, the mobile wallet platform tied up with Samsung Pay, which is the proprietary mobile payment platform for Samsung’s high-end phones to offer one-tap payment service.

The report was first published in Financial express.