Ezetap targets 2 lakh merchants; raises Rs 150 crore

BENGALURU, INDIA: With an aim to reach 2 lakh merchants and agents across India in the next 12 months, Bengaluru-based Ezetap Mobile Solutions, has raised Rs 150 crores in fresh funding.

The investors:

With this, Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder, Social+Capital, will become Chairman of Board, the first time the former Facebook executive has taken on this role with a portfolio company outside the United States.

Other investors include Helion Advisors and Berggruen Holdings. The new investments bring in Horizons Ventures, the private investment arm for Li Ka-Shing, and the Capricorn Investment Group.

The target:

Started in 2011 and launched in 2013, Ezetap has deployed over 60,000 new points of sale across India in 30 months. The company claims to process transactions worth over $1 million per day and has thousands of customers ranging from large enterprises to small retail businesses.

The company is now eyeing opportunities in the burgeoning SMB segment. For this, Ezetap is already activating over 500 new small retail merchants a week and will use some of its funds to increase that by 5X in the next few months.

The solution:

The Ezetap solution turns any merchant’s mobile device into an intelligent point of sale that is able to read any type of card and complete any type of financial transaction.

The solution comprises a configurable mobile application, a secure and lightweight card reader, and a flexible platform that allows Ezetap to provide customized value-added services and integrate to a merchant’s existing systems.

Partners:

Ezetap has partnerships with Citibank, HDFC Bank and American Express, who is also an investor in the company. Most recently, State Bank of India chose Ezetap to be its mPOS partner in order to help scale electronic payments and banking services to every corner of the country.

Investor speak:

Palihapitiya, said, “India is uniquely positioned to build an entirely new financial services ecosystem thanks to advancements like UID. Moreover, it’s clear to us that this revolution will be mobile first – from mPOS to mobile wallets, and that Ezetap can agnostically support this fast changing landscape.”

Abhijit Bose, Co-Founder and CEO of Ezetap, said, “Our vision is to be the most preferred, lowest cost, and universal platform through which businesses transact and engage with their customers. This funding, along with Chamath’s active guidance from scaling Facebook, gives us the fuel to realize our vision.”