MobiKwik, an India-based mobile payment technology provider backed by a range of corporate investors, is in the advanced stage of talks to raise more than $100m in funding, LiveMint reported yesterday.
The prospective investors are investment management firm BlackRock and Indian state-backed financial services firms including Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, who added that the round will value MobiKwik at about $1bn.
MobiKwik operates a mobile wallet-based payment system that enables users to upload money to their accounts which can then be used to pay bills, buy phone credit or purchase items online.
The platform, which also allows users to transfer funds to each other, has accumulated some 40 million users and has more than 250,000 retailers in its network.
The company has received $120m in funding since it was founded in 2009, $25m of which came in a 2015 series B round featuring networking technology provider Cisco’s corporate venturing unit, Cisco Investments, as well as payment services firm American Express, Sequoia Capital and Tree Line Asia.
GMO Global Payment Fund, a subsidiary of internet company GMO, and fabless semiconductor producer MediaTek invested as part of a $50m series C round in April 2016 that included Sequoia and Tree Line, before mobile payment company Net1 provided another $40m four months later.