super.money founder Prakash Sikaria on 250 Mn monthly transactions, cashback, and profitability

Payments app super.money, founded by former Flipkart executive Prakash Sikaria, has scaled rapidly since its July 2024 launch. In just over a year, the UPI-first platform grew from 2.5 million to 250 million monthly transactions, with nearly 70% of users under 28.

“We launched super.money with the belief that payments needed a youth-focused platform. UPI 1.0 solved for trust; UPI 2.0 is about financial products and experiences,” Sikaria told Entrackr.

Around 85% of its transactions are scan-and-pay, a format that has clicked with young users. “Our growth comes from a decluttered design with a central scanner, a brand voice that resonates with young India, and rewards that are simple and transparent,” Sikaria said.

Unlike peers, super.money offers a flat 5% cashback without scratch cards or hidden terms. “We tested retention sensitivity to rewards. Even with reductions in small groups, the impact was minimal. Cashback is sustainable when backed by cross-sell revenues,” he explained.

By February 2025, the app became the fifth-largest UPI player, overtaking CRED. According to NPCI, super.money processed 252 million transactions worth Rs 9,018.71 crore in July. While UPI itself generates no revenue, Sikaria sees it as a gateway. “UPI gives us over 100 touchpoints per user every month. We are closer to a digital bank with 10–20 million users consuming financial products, not just another UPI app competing with PhonePe or Paytm.”

The company’s revenue largely comes from personal loan cross-sell, followed by co-branded card fees and deposit commissions. Super.money claims 15% share of the RuPay secured credit card market. “For example, Rs 5,000 in an FD earns 8% interest plus 1% cashback—effectively close to 20% returns,” Sikaria noted.

Super.money currently partners with 12–15 lenders for loans, small finance banks for FDs, and offers UPI-led commerce like bill payments and flight bookings. Its acquisition of BharatX is helping build EMI capabilities on UPI.

On profitability, Sikaria said, “Our goal is to be contribution margin positive by December. That will address skepticism around cashback sustainability. We’re very close to that target.” Retention, he added, stands at 85%.

While he declined to share financials or fundraising details, media reports suggest super.money is in talks to raise $60–100 million at a unicorn valuation.

Despite Flipkart’s stake, Sikaria stressed independence. “super.money has been structured as an independent company, similar to how Flipkart had stakes in Myntra, Cleartrip and PhonePe.” He added, “All that we have built is within the capital we raised. Our scale has come at much lower spend than anyone else in this space.”