Mswipe Technologies, a leading digital payments company in India, has announced that it has raised $20 million in primary growth equity capital from its existing investors, led by Alpha Wave Global. The company has also received the final approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a payment aggregator (PA) in the country.
Mswipe’s growth story and vision
Mswipe was founded in 2011 by Ketan Patel, a former CEO of Cash-e, with the aim of providing affordable and accessible payment solutions to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India. The company offers a range of products and services, such as point-of-sale (POS) devices, unified payments interface (UPI), quick response (QR) codes, payment links, POS loans, and smart POS terminals.
Mswipe claims to have a merchant network of over half a million across metros, mini-metros, small towns, and cities in India. The company also claims to be profitable at an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) level for the last five quarters. For the financial year ending March 31, 2023 (FY23), Mswipe reported a 14% year-on-year growth in revenue from operations to Rs 274 crore. It also cut losses by 46% to Rs 49 crore.
With the fresh round of funding, Mswipe plans to increase its merchant payment network and strengthen its product development and technological infrastructure. The company also aims to leverage its PA licence to offer a seamless and secure payment experience to its merchants and customers.
Mswipe’s payment aggregator licence and its benefits
A payment aggregator is an entity that facilitates e-commerce sites and merchants to accept various payment instruments from customers for the completion of their payment obligations without the need for merchants to create a separate payment integration system of their own.
The RBI had issued guidelines for the regulation of payment aggregators in March 2020, which required all existing and new entities to obtain a licence from the central bank by June 30, 2021. The RBI had also granted in-principle approval to 11 entities, including Mswipe, in August 2022.
Mswipe received the final nod from the RBI earlier this month, making it one of the few players in the market to have both a PA licence and a POS device manufacturing capability. The company said that this will enable it to offer a comprehensive payment solution to its merchants, both online and offline.
Mswipe’s PA licence will also allow it to directly compete with other players in the space, such as Pine Labs, Razorpay, Paytm, and PhonePe, among others. The company said that it will leverage its PA licence to offer innovative payment solutions, such as subscription-based payments, dynamic QR codes, and payment links with expiry dates, to its merchants.
Mswipe’s investors and future plans
Mswipe’s key investors include Alpha Wave Global, Matrix Partners, B Capital, DSG Consumer Partners, Epiq Capital, UC-RNT, and Ola. The company has raised a total of $126 million in nine rounds of funding so far, according to Tracxn data.
Alpha Wave Global, a fund managed by Falcon Edge Capital, led the latest round of funding for Mswipe. The fund has also invested in other Indian startups, such as BharatPe, OfBusiness, and Zomato.
Mswipe’s founder and CEO, Ketan Patel, said that the company is grateful for the continued support and confidence of its investors. He also said that the company is committed to empowering SMEs in India with digital payment solutions that are affordable, accessible, and secure.
Mswipe said that it will continue to focus on innovation and customer satisfaction as it expands its presence and offerings in the Indian digital payments market.
Comments