E-commerce companies eContext Asia and Beenos Asia are set to exit India-based mobile payment technology developer Citrus Pay through an acquisition by e-commerce and media group Naspers, Times of India reported today.
The deal will be sized between $150m and $180m in cash, sources close to the development told TOI. Citrus had raised about $32m since it was founded in 2011.
Citrus’ offering is made up of two core products: a mobile wallet with social functions that enables users to transfer money to and request it from others, and payment gateway technology that allows merchants to receive and process online payments.
Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital provided $1.8m in seed funding for the company in 2012 before being joined by eContext and Beenos for a $5.5m series A round the following year.
All three investors subsequently participated in a $25m round in October 2015 that also featured private equity firm Ascent Capital. Sequoia holds a 30% stake in Citrus and will reportedly make a 10-to-12 times return from the deal
South Africa-headquartered Naspers plans to link Citrus with two other subsidiaries – Netherlands-based online payment specialist PayU and India-based online travel agency Ibibo.
Citrus was also in talks with Japan-based Rakuten over an acquisition but the deal fell though, an undisclosed source told TOI.