India-based digital payment technology provider True Balance has raised $23m in bridge funding from investors including mobile messaging platform developer Line and internet group Naver, the Economic Times reported on Friday.
The round’s participants also included financial services firm Shinhan Bank and investment holding company TS Investment. Line, which was owned by Naver before it went public, invested through corporate venturing unit Line Ventures.
Founded in 2014, True Balance offers an app that can be used by mobile network customers to check and top up their balances. The app had been downloaded more than 50 million times as of September 2017.
The funding comes after the company secured a licence from Bank of India in July 2017, allowing it to launch a mobile wallet feature in December enabling users to store money that can be used to rapidly top up balances or send or receive capital to and from others.
True Balance received an undisclosed amount in an early 2016 series A round led by SoftBank Ventures Korea, a corporate venturing vehicle for telecommunications and internet group SoftBank.
SoftBank Ventures Korea returned to co-lead a Rs 100m ($14.9m) series B round for the company in February 2017 with venture capital and private equity firm IMM Management that included Korea Development Bank, Mega Investment and Capstone Partners.