Exclusive: Mobikwik raises Rs 41.5 Cr from Hindustan Media Ventures

Digital payments platform Mobikwik has raised Rs 41.5 crore as a part of its Series E round from Hindustan Media Ventures. The fresh proceeds for the company have come after 16 months. It raised Rs 8.7 crore from NDTV and Trifecta in July 2019.

Mobikwik has allotted 41,375 Series E CCPS at an issue price of Rs 10,030 per share to raise the sum, regulatory filing shows. The Gurugram-based firm is likely to raise more money in this round.

Previously, Mobikwik had raised Rs 8.74 crore from New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) and Trifecta Capital in July 2019, Rs 24 crore from Sequoia Capital in December 2018 and secured Rs 225 crore from Bajaj Finserv (NBFC) in 2017. 

It’s worth noting that the company had filed documents with the regulator for raising Rs 223 crore in March this year from Cayman Island-based L.P. named MK SPV IX. However, the money is yet to hit Mobikwik’s account. 

As per Fintrackr’s estimates, Mobikwik’s pre-money valuation before the latest tranche is anywhere between Rs 2,575-2,650 crore.

Unlike other consumer payment companies, MobiKwik has been relying on organic growth and smaller scale over chasing expensive growth. It could be noticed from the company's recent claims. According to its co-founder and chief executive Upasana Taku, MobiKwik registered 134% surge in net revenue to Rs 379 crore in FY20. 

Taku further claimed a cash loss of Rs 9 crore in FY20 as compared to Rs 98 crore in FY19. While the company is yet to file its annual financial statements for FY20 with RoC, it claimed lower consumer acquisition cost (CAC) in the last fiscal.

Mobikwik has been claiming to go public by 2022, joining several other companies that have made such claims in the past few years. To ramp up its revised public listing plan, the company had recently elevated its senior vice president (payments) Chandan Joshi to the co-founder role.

Joshi, who has been with the company for more than two and half years, joined the list of several individuals such as Mohit Gupta (Zomato), Umang Bedi (DailyHunt), Anant Narayanan (Medlife) and Rahul Jaimini (Pesto) who elevated to co-founder roles at later stage.

With over 120 million users and 3 million retailers on the platform, Mobikwik faces tough competition in the digital payments space as well as in the payment gateway business from the likes of Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe, Razorpay, Billdesk, CCAvenue, Cashfree and several others.