Mobikwik, Payment Startup Hip Bar Slapped with ₹15 and ₹10.8 Lakh Fine for Violating Norms

The Reserve Bank has imposed a total penalty of around Rs 26 lakh on two online payment solutions providers One Mobikwik Systems, the parent of payment wallet Mobikwik and Hip Bar, a payment tech startup that counts Bengaluru-headquartered alcoholic beverages company, United Spirits Ltd (USL), as its investor.

One Mobikwik Systems Private Limited has been slapped a fine of Rs 15 lakh while Hip Bar Pvt Ltd faced a fine of Rs 10.85 lakh, according to an RBI release.

These two prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers have been levied monetary penalty for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines, the release said.

To recall, in June last year United Spirits Ltd, which is the flagship liquor arm of Diageo India, has invested Rs 27 crore to pick 26% stake in Hip Bar Private Ltd.

Max Bupa, MobiKwik Tie-up to Promote Bite Sized Health Insurance Products in India

Max Bupa – one of India’s leading standalone health insurance players today announced a strategic partnership with MobiKwik–a leading Fintech platform, to promote affordable and convenient bite sized group health insurance products for MobiKwik’s 107 Million customers across the country.

Bite-sized insurance offerings, which are essentially easy to buy, over the counter health insurance products, primarily targeted towards working professionals and millennials, are fast picking up pace in India and gaining huge interest from customers who are always on the go and are looking for convenient, low price and accessible health plans for their specific health needs. These young customers are looking for quick, simple and affordable health insurance propositions to take care of their specific health needs. They are interested in a fully digital buying journey along with simple claims procedure.

In keeping with this emerging trend, Max Bupa in association with Mobikwik will offer a slew of innovative offerings, including a Cancer cover at nominal premium and a HospiCash product, in order to make health insurance purchase simple, instant and affordable for MobiKwik’s vast customer base.

Max Bupa’s HospiCash product offers a perfect solution for their evolving health needs. It provides for a pre-defined daily allowance basis the number of days of hospitalization irrespective of the actual expense incurred by the customer. This ensures that the out of pocket expenses are taken care of. Priced at an annual premium as low as INR 135, HospiCash will offer INR 500 per day hospital allowance for up to 30 days in a year to a customer. If admitted to an ICU, the amount receivable by the policyholder is twice the daily hospitalization cash benefit. In addition to this, customers would also get additional security against accidents wherein the family would receive INR 1 Lakh in case of accidental death of the customer.

The HospiCash buying journey on the MobiKwik app is fully digital - just 2-clicks and even the claim process is simple, thus making the customer experience completely seamless.

Max Bupa will also offer a new proposition for Vector Borne Diseases like Dengue, Chikungunya, Malaria, Japanese Encephalitis, Lymphatic Filariasis, for those who are interested in further safeguarding themselves against the increasing incidences of such diseases. A lumpsum payout of INR 10,000 against these conditions will help the customer to not only take care of hospitalization expenses but also loss of pay for the time they have been away from work. Such proposition would soon be available on the MobiKwik platform at a nominal premium of INR 49. Further, customers would also get an accidental death cover for INR 1 Lakh as additional security.

Being a specialized Health Insurance player, Max Bupa understands the challenges that the lifestyle diseases are posing to Indians. Cancer being one of the most dreaded diseases with over 1 million patients getting registered every year. The battle against Cancer has a severe financial drain which leads to families of patients to borrow from friends or family or even sell their assets. To provide solution to these challenges, Max Bupa will offer a fixed benefit Cancer plan for Mobikwik’s customers which would provide the required protection to the customers and support them in such tough times, with a lumpsum payout to not just take care of their medical expenses but also support the financial needs of their family.

Commenting on the alliance, UpasanaTaku, Co-founder MobiKwik said, “Our mission is to build affordable and accessible financial services for a billion Indians. We call this ‘Building for भारत’. Bharat needs a truly disruptive approach to ensure health cover is available to every citizen at a low premium, with instant issuance and without fear of medical exams and piles of paperwork. A single hospital stay without any insurance cover becomes a long lasting financial burden on many lower and middle class families. We are committed to enabling our customers with smart insurance products that are affordable, and simple to understand with lightning fast purchase experiences. With this Max Bupa partnership, we are bringing together the power of protection and digital to provide affordable health insurance to millions of Indian families.”

Speaking about the announcement, Ashish Mehrotra, MD & CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance said, “At Max Bupa, the customer is at the centre of everything we do and it is our constant endeavor to design products and solutions that fulfills their growing requirements. Today’s customers demand simple, affordable and digitally enabled on the go products which provide coverage for lifestyle illnesses as well as basic hospitalization cover. In line with this, we foresee bite sized insurance products driving the insurance sector in the near future, eventually bringing more and more new customers into the ambit of health insurance. Our alliance with MobiKwik fortifies our commitment to make quality health insurance products more affordable and accessible to millions of customers across India through digital innovations. We are enabling financial inclusion by making pocket size health insurance solutions available through the Mobikwik platform and plan to acquire 1 million Mobikwik customers over the next 3-4 years”.

MobiKwik to Clock 70,000 Digital Loans in May 2019

MobiKwik, India’s leading FinTech Company, today announced that it will clock 70,000 fully-digital loans in May 2019. MobiKwik has disbursed over 5 lakh loans since it started digital lending on its app last year and approx. 55,000 loans in April 2019 alone. MobiKwik’s Digital Lending business is amongst the fastest growing in the industry with over 25% MoM growth in 2019. As a Payments platform, the company has the unique opportunity to distribute affordable loan products to millions of its users and SMEs using their payments and profile data for credit underwriting. Each month about 1 million users apply for a digital loan on the MobiKwik Android and iOS apps.

MobiKwik’s loan products are delivered end-to-end on its mobile app, including the entire user targeting, loan journey, and money disbursal. The company offers an extensive portfolio of loans including Boost Term Loan, Boost Credit Line, and Shopping Loan to cater to diverse customer requirements. These loans are made available to users at competitive interest rates in partnership with 5 leading NBFCs. MobiKwik was the first Consumer Payments company to launch Digital Lending and is also the first in the industry to disburse loans in the customer’s mobile wallet.

MobiKwik recently partnered with a select set of its merchants to roll out ‘MobiKwik Money Solutions’ which empowers small and medium merchants to instantly facilitate digital loans to the thousands of walk-in customers in his/her store. This unique approach allows MobiKwik to extend the distribution of its ‘Boost’ loan to customers who are not on its app while at the same time creating a new revenue stream for its merchants and boosting their income.

Speaking on the growth of the credit business, Ms. Upasana Taku, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, MobiKwik, said, “Digital Lending has been our top performing business line since its roll out in March 2018 and is the largest contributor to our growth story. We started out with the objective of providing affordable and accessible financial services to billions of Indians. Over the last one year, our loan products have been well received by customers across tier-1, 2 and 3 towns and cities. With our simple products, easy user journeys and robust payments ecosystem, we have made it possible for lacs of Indians to get access to digital credit in their mobile app in 90 seconds. This is hugely rewarding and motivating for us as an organization. We hope to impact millions of lives in a similar fashion with our innovative loan, insurance and investment products in the coming years.”

Added Ms. Taku, “Lending in India is a trillion-dollar opportunity and this early success is only the tip of the iceberg. We are in the process of rolling out several new loan products for both consumers and SMEs and are confident of a 5X growth in FY20.”

Last year, MobiKwik revolutionized the digital lending industry with the roll out of its 90-second personal loan product ‘Boost’- that offers instant loan disbursal to MobiKwik users. ‘Boost’ loan does not require any security, is processed digitally and makes it possible for users to get the money in their mobile wallet in 90 seconds. MobiKwik disburses instant loans of as low as Rs. 1000 ticket size to as high as Rs. 100,000.

MobiKwik has significant data on its users, based on their transactions on the MobiKwik platform. Using this data, MobiKwik has created its own proprietary credit score called MobiScore, which is used to decide the loan eligibility for the user. The loan availed, can be used by the user across a range of use cases including urgent purchases, marriage expenses, travel plans, hotel bookings, medical emergencies, as well as payments to offline and online merchants. The loan amount is payable in easy monthly instalments. The customers can either payback from the MobiKwik app or can enable MobiKwik’s NBFC partner to auto-debit the monthly EMI from their bank account.

MobiKwik, one of India’s leading fintech platforms, operates businesses in consumer payments, payment gateway, and financial services. The vision of the company is to build accessible, and affordable digital financial services for a Billion Indians. Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, the company has raised 4 rounds of funding from marquee investors including Sequoia Capital, American Express, and Net1.

MobiKwik’s consumer payments network is one of the largest in India with 107 million users, 3 million merchants, and 200+ billers. In the last year, the company has launched 3 new financial services - lending, insurance and wealth for its users and merchants. Earlier in 2018, it launched India’s fastest loan product ‘Boost’, which disburses money in the user’s wallet in 90 seconds. In Oct 2018, the company acquired Clearfunds, one of India’s emerging wealth startups.

[Published Unedited Via Business Wire India feed]

MobiKwik Offers Instant Life Insurance for Rs. 20 on Its App

MobiKwik, India’s largest digital financial services platform, today announced the launch of digital life insurance on its app to its users. MobiKwik in association with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company has rolled out first-of-its-kind group micro insurance product. The offering begins with a life cover of Rs. 1 lakh available for a monthly premium as low as Rs. 20/-.

This is the second big announcement by MobiKwik in the digital insurance space, post the launch of accidental insurance in November 2018. The users have an option to choose from three sum assured policies: Rs. 1 lakh, 1.5 lakhs and 2 lakhs, available against monthly premiums of Rs. 20/-, 30/- and 40/- respectively.

Life insurance can be digitally purchased on the MobiKwik app, via a paperless, 2-step process that takes 10 seconds and the policy is issued instantly. MobiKwik will be extending its base of insurance providers in this category and is exploring associations with other leading insurance providers. Mobikwik will be adding curated products based on customer profile and will offer personalised products rather than ‘one size fits all’.

ommenting on the launch, Ms. Upasana Taku, Co-founder and Director, MobiKwik said, “Over the past 9 years, Mobikwik has designed products that are aimed at transforming the financial landscape and driving financial inclusion in India. Our foray into the life insurance category is in line with our vision to bring about an impactful change in the way financial services are distributed in India. The market is huge and expected to grow rapidly. As per a recent report by ASSOCHAM released in partnership with a research firm called APAS, the insurance industry in India is expected to reach USD 280 billion by 2020. The report also states that life insurance industry in the country is expected to grow by 12-15 percent annually for the next three to five years. Our innovative, curated offerings in the insurance domain aim to simplify the process of buying insurance and also make it affordable to a totally untapped set of customers.”

Added Ms. Taku, “Life insurance is very important for each and every individual. However, in India, it is an extremely under-penetrated category. With these micro insurance products and other personalised offerings in the future, we are confident of disrupting the life insurance market. We are digitally offering life insurance in association with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, one of the renowned names in this domain. We intend to tap the mass market and emerging affluent customer base that has been ignored by the traditional banks and insurance providers, owing to the high distribution costs. We are also trying to address the challenges around product relevance for the customer, because of standard financial and health underwriting. MobiKwik will lead the way in driving adoption of life insurance products in the real India with its customized portfolio, intelligently designed to cater to the customers’ requirements. Digital offering is the key here as we are able to offer insurance products to millions of our users, irrespective of location, on our app. We envision a day when majority of India will have a life insurance policy.”

Mr. Puneet Nanda, Deputy Managing Director, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company said, “We are delighted to have associated with MobiKwik, one of India’s largest digital mobile wallet. The simple paperless on-boarding process paves the way for MobiKwik’s large user base to purchase life insurance. Simplicity, we believe is the biggest innovation in the life insurance industry. Customer centricity is the core philosophy of both organisations and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”

MobiKwik user is suggested an appropriate insurance product, selected basis existing profile of the customer, advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence algorithm. The company had recently launched the accidental insurance product which has received a great response from its user base. It offers accidental insurance of Rs. 1 lakh for a year for as low as Rs. 20/-.

MobiKwik is India’s leading digital financial services platform, leveraging a sophisticated product and merchant acquisition capabilities. It is also the second largest mobile wallet player in India. It has a network of over 3 million direct merchants, 140+ billers and over 107 million users. It has ventured into credit with the launch of its instant credit product called ‘Boost’. MobiKwik has also announced its foray into wealth management with 100% acquisition of Clearfunds, one of India’s leading new age wealth management platforms.

Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, the company has raised four rounds of funding from Sequoia Capital, American Express, Tree Line Asia, MediaTek, GMO Payment Gateway, Cisco Investments Net1 and Bajaj Finance. The company has offices across many cities in India including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata. It aspires to be the largest source of digital transactions in India and has a vision of enabling a billion Indians with one tap access to digital payments, loans, insurance and investments, by 2022.

MobiKwik is second largest mobile wallet player in India and has a network of over 3 million direct merchants, 140+ billers and over 107 million users. It has ventured into credit with the launch of its instant credit product called ‘Boost’. MobiKwik has also announced its foray into wealth management with 100% acquisition of Clearfunds, one of India’s leading new age wealth management platforms.

Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, the company has raised four rounds of funding from Sequoia Capital, American Express, Tree Line Asia, MediaTek, GMO Payment Gateway, Cisco Investments Net1 and Bajaj Finance. The company has offices across many cities in India including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata. It aspires to be the largest source of digital transactions in India and has a vision of enabling a billion Indians with one tap access to digital payments, loans, insurance and investments, by 2022.

Source - Feed via Business Wire India

MobiKwik Launches 'Boost' to Offer Instant Loan within 90 Seconds

MobiKwik, one of India’s largest digital financial services platforms, today announced the launch of its breakthrough product called ‘Boost’, that offers instant loan approval and disbursal to MobiKwik users. This is the first-of-its-kind of credit disbursal product, wherein loans of up to Rs. 60,000 are sanctioned as well as disbursed in a matter of 90 seconds. MobiKwik has partnered with a number of NBFCs to offer this service to its users. MobiKwik is the first wallet player to disburse loan amount in the user’s mobile wallet.

‘Boost’ offers loans without any hassles of submission of paperwork or collaterals. The loan sanction decision will be taken in 30 seconds, on the basis of an innovative risk scoring model called ‘Mobiscore’, developed by MobiKwik. The real time underwriting has been possible only because of artificial intelligence and data analytics capabilities used in the entire loan journey.

Users can apply for loans ranging from Rs. 5,000 up to Rs 60,000 through MobiKwik app. MobiKwik users who avail loans via the app will have the option to transfer their loan amount to their bank account. The amount credited can be utilized by the app users across a range of use cases including urgent purchases, marriage expenses, travel plans, hotel bookings, medical emergency, as well as payments to offline and online merchants.

The loan process includes 4 simple steps:

• Select Boost on the MobiKwik App


• Activate Boost for instant loan


• Insert PAN and other KYC details to view loan offer


• Accept loan offer and get instant disbursal

Speaking on the announcement, Ms Upasana Taku, Co-founder and Director, MobiKwik said, “Our objective is to provide easy access to credit to each and every Indian, irrespective of his location. This is first of its kind of product that will totally revolutionize the way India avails credit. Our path-breaking product will enable Indians, located anywhere in India, to avail instant loans, whenever they require, within 90 seconds, via the MobiKwik app. In the initial months of piloting the offering, we have already crossed a portfolio of 100 thousand loans. We will be rolling out new products in the lending portfolio so as to cater to diverse credit requirements of customers. We are confident that lending will be a game changer and will establish us as clear leaders in the digital financial services domain in the country.”

The loan amount is payable in easy instalments of 6 and 9 months. They can either payback from the MobiKwik app or can enable MobiKwik’s partner to auto-debit the monthly EMI from their bank account. MobiKwik users are required to update their KYC with PAN card and other KYC details to avail the loan benefit.
About MobiKwik

MobiKwik is India’s leading digital financial services platform, a mobile wallet major and a leading payment gateway. MobiKwik app is a leading mobile payment platform with a network of over 3 million direct merchants and over 107 million plus users. Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, the company has raised four rounds of funding from Sequoia Capital, American Express, Tree Line Asia, MediaTek, GMO Payment Gateway, Cisco Investments Net1 and Bajaj Finance. The company has offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata. It aspires to be the largest source of digital transactions in India and has a vision of enabling a billion Indians with one tap access to digital payments, loans, insurance and investments, by 2022.

MobiKwik believes in the ‘power of partnerships’ and has forged a string of smart partnerships with renowned brands such as BSNL, Bajaj Finserv Ltd and IndusInd Bank in the year 2017. In August 2017, BSNL went digital by launching a bespoke mobile wallet developed and issued by MobiKwik. Bajaj Finserv-MobiKwik have partnered to launch India’s first credit wallet, an EMI wallet through which customers can avail credits and loans. MobiKwik has also developed India’s first auto-load wallet for IndusInd Bank’s 10 million plus customers. The company has also signed a pact with IDFC bank for the launch of virtual cards.

Via ~ Business Wire India

[Top Image - economictimes.indiatimes.com [DHIRAJ SINGH/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES]

Mobikwik Invests ₹2 Crore in Pune-based Data Science Startup Pivotchain Solutions

Mobile wallet company Mobikwik has announced today that it has invested Rs 2 crore in Pune-based Pivotchain Solutions, a data science startup focused on deep learning and advanced analytics. With this investment, Mobikwik aims to strengthen its fintech offerings

Founded in 2017 by Deepak Rao and Yogendra Pratap Singh, Pivotchain offers blockchain based asset registry platform and within a year of its existence, the startup is working closely with banking, insurance, retail and government sectors globally.

Notably, Pivotchain has also built exclusive AI and deep learning models for MobiKwik and these models, Mobkwik official's statement, will be instrumental for MobiKwik as it rolls out numerous lending products to address the credit requirements of its user base.

MobiKwik founder and CEO Bipin Preet Singh said the company’s focus on delivering high quality fintech products will require immense focus on data, and an in-depth understanding of the user requirements across categories.

“Pivotchain is doing incredible work in alternate data scoring, predictive modelling and risk management and this investment will give us an edge over competition. We will continue to invest in companies that can add value to our business,” he said.

To recall, in last month, Mobikwik launched Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on its platform via its own VPA (Virtual payment address) handle @ikwik. MobiKwik claims to be the first in the industry to offer UPI access to a huge base of 3 million merchants on its app.

Last November, Mobikwik's biggest competitor Paytm had invested in CreditMate, a Mumbai-based startup in the lending space which is focused on enabling its dealer partners to seamlessly assess, approve, process and distribute two wheeler loans to customers with no formal credit history.

Source - PTI | Via - BusinessLine

Mobikwik Invests ₹2 Crore in Pune-based Data Science Startup Pivotchain Solutions

Mobile wallet company Mobikwik has announced today that it has invested Rs 2 crore in Pune-based Pivotchain Solutions, a data science startup focused on deep learning and advanced analytics. With this investment, Mobikwik aims to strengthen its fintech offerings

Founded in 2017 by Deepak Rao and Yogendra Pratap Singh, Pivotchain offers blockchain based asset registry platform and within a year of its existence, the startup is working closely with banking, insurance, retail and government sectors globally.

Notably, Pivotchain has also built exclusive AI and deep learning models for MobiKwik and these models, Mobkwik official's statement, will be instrumental for MobiKwik as it rolls out numerous lending products to address the credit requirements of its user base.

MobiKwik founder and CEO Bipin Preet Singh said the company’s focus on delivering high quality fintech products will require immense focus on data, and an in-depth understanding of the user requirements across categories.

“Pivotchain is doing incredible work in alternate data scoring, predictive modelling and risk management and this investment will give us an edge over competition. We will continue to invest in companies that can add value to our business,” he said.

To recall, in last month, Mobikwik launched Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on its platform via its own VPA (Virtual payment address) handle @ikwik. MobiKwik claims to be the first in the industry to offer UPI access to a huge base of 3 million merchants on its app.

Last November, Mobikwik's biggest competitor Paytm had invested in CreditMate, a Mumbai-based startup in the lending space which is focused on enabling its dealer partners to seamlessly assess, approve, process and distribute two wheeler loans to customers with no formal credit history.

Source - PTI | Via - BusinessLine

MobiKwik Launches UPI on Its Platform: Offers Its Own VPA Handle ‘@Ikwik’

MobiKwik, one of India’s leading digital financial services platform, today announced the launch of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on its platform via its own VPA (Virtual payment address) handle @ikwik. MobiKwik is the first in the industry to offer UPI access to a huge base of 3 million merchants on its app. It is also amongst the first few in the industry to offer Bharat QR, UPI QR and intent functionality for merchant payments.

MobiKwik, one of India’s leading digital financial services platform, today announced the launch of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on its platform via its own VPA (Virtual payment address) handle @ikwik. MobiKwik is the first in the industry to offer UPI access to a huge base of 3 million merchants on its app. It is also amongst the first few in the industry to offer Bharat QR, UPI QR and intent functionality for merchant payments. Additionally, all the MobiKwik users will be able to do P2P bank transfers using UPI. MobiKwik’s UPI app is 100% in compliance with the NPCI guidelines. MobiKwik is the most secured UPI app till date, as per NPCI.

MobiKwik’s users can, by default, use their mobile number as their own VPA which will be ‘@ikwik’. They will also be able to link multiple bank accounts with just one VPA and users can change primary account as per their requirements. Users can simply scan and generate UPI QR functionality to send and receive money using VPA and phone number from the contact list. If the receiver is also registered in Mobikwik UPI ecosystem, sender can send money by selecting his contact from phone book without remembering VPA domain. It will also be possible for the users to request money using UPI on the MobiKwik app.

Speaking on the announcement, Mr. Bipin Preet Singh, Founder and CEO, MobiKwik, said, “Our strength lies in user experience, the wide network of merchants and the numerous daily life use-cases we power. We intend to provide all payments options, including wallets, virtual cards and UPI, to ensure convenience across our user base. Mobikwik will be first player of scale to include all interoperable features in its UPI launch app. We believe that with UPI on our platform, we will be able to empower our users with the power of transferring between bank accounts in an extremely safe and simple manner. With the roll out of UPI, we expect a reduction in the usage of debit cards and internet banking on the MobiKwik app, as UPI will offer a better user experience. Keeping in mind our reach on the merchant side, we hope to substantially increase momentum of merchant transactions on UPI. We will be adding more payment options for the benefit of our users in the times to come.”

MobiKwik has its own customized VPA handle “@ikwik” for making payments unlike existing UPI based services offered by non-banking entities. Safety has been given utmost priority in MobiKwik UPI app and users can be rest assured about their data security, even in case of loss of SIM or device.

Promoted by the Government of India, UPI powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application of any participating bank, merging several banking features, aimed at offering seamless routing of fund and merchant payments from this single platform.

Via - Business Wire India

Mobikwik’s Marketing Head Quits; Plans To Launch A Green Tech Startup

Akash Gupta, Vice President – Marketing for Mobikwik, has decided to move on and pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. The former Marketing Head of Mobikwik would now be venturing into the Green Tech Space. The startup is aimed at curbing the rising pollution levels in urban cities, while simultaneously promoting healthier lifestyles amongst urban-dwellers.

Akash has been associated with Mobikwik for over two years. Joined as the General Manager, Akash grew to become the Vice President of Marketing, owing to his knack for infusing ROI-oriented marketing programs and strategies. Leading both, online and offline marketing functions of MobiKwik from the front, Akash has been instrumental in the emergence of Mobikwik as one amongst the leading players in digital and consumer Fintech payments in India. Under his leadership, MobiKwik grew from 25mn users to 65mn+ users now.

Speaking about his plans, Akash Gupta said, “It was an incredible experience for me to be associated with MobiKwik and drive the company’s multiple marketing functions. However, the time feels ripe for me to venture on a path of my own. I have been contemplating various ideas in the past and have finally decided to go ahead with this huge Green Tech initiative. Our environment today is increasingly becoming toxic with pollutants; besides, the sedentary lifestyles of urban dwellers have become a problem. By starting up a Green Tech Company, I’m out from MobiKwik to create a revolution and I would fundamentally aim to address these concerns, and present our users with a better, healthier and environment-friendly lifestyle.”

Having previously associated with tech and e-commerce giants like Airtel, Dell and Snapdeal, Akash Gupta has proven track-record for optimizing ROI and user acquisitions. His expertise in the startup and tech domain will definitely come in handy while starting and scaling up the soon to be launched new Green Tech venture.

MobiKwik Announces Its Association With IRCTC Rail Connect App

Mobile wallet major MobiKwik today announced its association with IRCTC Rail connect app under which users can now pay through MobiKwik's Payment Gateway, while booking their tickets on IRCTC. IRCTC app powers over 1 lakh tickets per day. The aim is to simplify payment systems by introducing MobiKwik’s easy- to-use interface for all. It supports payment solution through channels like Debit card, Credit card, Net Banking, ATM Cards and Wallets.

MobiKwik’s tie up with IRCTC comes against the backdrop of a significant rise in cashless mode of transactions especially after demonetisation. During this financial year alone, 17% of total tickets, both reserved and unreserved, were booked through various cashless modes of payment. Mobikwik's Payment Gateway currently powers payments for more than 3000 ecommerce websites and apps.

Mobikwik's Payment gateway processes more than 100 million transactions a month. It is a secure platform that works with different levels of security— Encryption of all Transactions, Sensitive Data Storage with multiple levels of Encryption API Level Security. The Payment Gateway also powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application, merging several banking features, seamless fund routing and merchant payments under one hood. Some of the other additional features supported by MobiKwik's Payment Gateway offers ensuring a high conversion rates on mobile by providing mobile friendly checkout pages, optimized for 2G and slow network.

Announcing the association, Vineet Singh, Chief Business Officer of MobiKwik said “MobiKwik is privileged to support a cashless India and urges people to transact with wallets and digital money as much as possible. Our association with IRCTC is another step to reach out and work towards our mission of digitalizing the country. This association will help the passengers to pay for their tickets seamlessly and securely, within seconds.”

Mobikwik's Upasana Taku Wins Best Woman Entrepreneur 2017 Award

Doing good work and getting recognised for it is something very less of us get to feel nowadays. Mobikwik co-founder Upasana Taku recently lived this feeling when she was bestowed upon the title of ‘Best Woman Entrepreneur Award 2017’ yesterday in New Delhi.

Awarded on the occasion of World Entrepreneurship Day yesterday by ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India), Taku's honour comes just a few days after the mobile wallet company announced its plans of
becoming India's first debit plus credit wallet.

Soon Mobikwik users will be able to have exclusive credit lines, credit cards and EMI cards mapped through the app, which will ultimately result in increasing their purchasing power and enable them to get lending products available at cheaper interest rates.

Prior to this, the Mobikwik was in the news for raising Rs 225 crore from Bajaj Finance. Under the agreement signed between the two companies, Bajaj will be picking up nearly 11 per cent stake in the company, which means acquiring 10 equity shares and 271,050 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) of the mobile wallet company.

Accepting the award, Taku said, "I thank ASSOCHAM for bestowing this honour on me. It is my firm belief that awards such as these would encourage budding entrepreneurs who have great ideas and vision for achieving success in life, but are reluctant to pursue their dreams or succumb to pressures from the society.”

Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, Mobikwik has grown to become a major mobile payment network in the Indian subcontinent boosting over 15 lakh direct merchants and 55 million plus users on its platform. The mobile wallet company has recently also entered into a partnership with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to power ‘BSNL Wallet’ – India’s largest wallet by the telecom company. Developed and issued by MobiKwik on behalf of BSNL, the mobile wallet will facilitate ease of payment and also sell BSNL products.

Last year, Taku also found a place in Forbes under “Asia’s Women to Watch in 2016”.

Mobikwik's Upasana Taku Wins Best Woman Entrepreneur 2017 Award

Doing good work and getting recognised for it is something very less of us get to feel nowadays. Mobikwik co-founder Upasana Taku recently lived this feeling when she was bestowed upon the title of ‘Best Woman Entrepreneur Award 2017’ yesterday in New Delhi.

Awarded on the occasion of World Entrepreneurship Day yesterday by ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India), Taku's honour comes just a few days after the mobile wallet company announced its plans of
becoming India's first debit plus credit wallet.

Soon Mobikwik users will be able to have exclusive credit lines, credit cards and EMI cards mapped through the app, which will ultimately result in increasing their purchasing power and enable them to get lending products available at cheaper interest rates.

Prior to this, the Mobikwik was in the news for raising Rs 225 crore from Bajaj Finance. Under the agreement signed between the two companies, Bajaj will be picking up nearly 11 per cent stake in the company, which means acquiring 10 equity shares and 271,050 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) of the mobile wallet company.

Accepting the award, Taku said, "I thank ASSOCHAM for bestowing this honour on me. It is my firm belief that awards such as these would encourage budding entrepreneurs who have great ideas and vision for achieving success in life, but are reluctant to pursue their dreams or succumb to pressures from the society.”

Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, Mobikwik has grown to become a major mobile payment network in the Indian subcontinent boosting over 15 lakh direct merchants and 55 million plus users on its platform. The mobile wallet company has recently also entered into a partnership with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to power ‘BSNL Wallet’ – India’s largest wallet by the telecom company. Developed and issued by MobiKwik on behalf of BSNL, the mobile wallet will facilitate ease of payment and also sell BSNL products.

Last year, Taku also found a place in Forbes under “Asia’s Women to Watch in 2016”.

BSNL With MobiKwik Launches 'BSNL Wallet' - India's Largest Wallet By Telecom Co.

Indian state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has unveiled its digital wallet (mobile payment App) in partnership with MobiKwik to enable one-tap bill payment for its over 100 million subscribers.

The wallet has been developed and issued by MobiKwik on behalf of BSNL. The subscribers will be able to use the digital wallet at over 1.5 million merchants across India. The app - BSNL Wallet can be downloaded from here.

Introducing #BSNLWallet
Enabling masses in #MovingForward with #DigitalIndia
Download Now - https://t.co/pUJQfxxrEF@BSNLCorporate pic.twitter.com/iPdCHzjVS4

— MobiKwik (@MobiKwik) August 18, 2017

The digital wallet is in line with the telecom corporation’s intent to take the reach of digital payments to semi-urban and rural India, a BSNL statement said.

BSNL says that with the app its customers will have a new way to recharge their phone, pay their milkman, domestic help, groceries, book bus and train tickets.

To recall, in July 2015 BSNL had launched another similar mobile wallet app called SpeedPay, which the company could have improvised and enhanced further instead of launching a new mobile wallet altogether.

Earlier this month, MobiKwik Co-founder Upasana Taku did hinted out about this progress when she said in a statement that Mobikwik is becoming India's first debit plus credit wallet, where people could have exclusive credit lines, credit cards and EMI cards mapped through the app.

Launching the digital wallet, telecom minister Manoj Sinha said, "With this co-branded wallet, the ease of payment will be extended to all the customers while equally strengthening financial inclusion in the rural hinterlands, which often get neglected".

BSNL chairman Anupam Srivastava said the partnership will ensure that all its 100 million customers are able to "seamlessly and conveniently transact and make mobile and other financial payments through the co-branded MobiKwik wallet". Srivastava said the wallet will work on both smartphone and feature phones.

BSNL claimed that with over 1.5 million merchants on the network, this is India’s largest wallet by any telecom company.

The alliance with BSNL will "empower masses in India with access to dependable internet connectivity and digital payments", Bipin Preet Singh, founder and CEO of MobiKwik said. The BSNL wallet will enable people to pay bills, recharge their phone connections and pay for their daily purchases, he added.

MobiKwik Will Be India's First Debit-cum-Credit Wallet, Says Its Co-founder

The Indian mobile wallet industry has had a golden run ever since the government pulled off its demonetisation stunt last year. While Paytm is currently leading the pack, there are others who are trying to catch on to the leader of the market. One such player trying to make a mark for itself is Mobikwik. The company recently announced its plans to introduce country's first debit-cum-credit wallet.

"Mobikwik is becoming India's first debit plus credit wallet, where people could have exclusive credit lines, credit cards and EMI cards mapped through the app, increasing the purchasing power of users and enabling them to get lending products available at cheaper interest rates," said MobiKwik Co-founder Upasana Taku in a statement to IANS.

The news comes on the heals of the mobile wallet company raising Rs 225 crore from Bajaj Finance. Under the agreement signed between the two parties, Bajaj will be picking up nearly 11 per cent stake in the company, which means acquiring 10 equity shares and 271,050 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) of Mobikwik.

Last week, Mobikwik’s rival and Snapdeal-owned payment arm Freecharge was sold to Axis Bank for Rs 385 crore.

Starting its journey eight years ago in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, Mobikwik has grown to become a major mobile payment network having over 15 lakh direct merchants and 55 million plus users on its platform.

Upasana believes that being a debit-cum-credit wallet will give the company a 'leapfrog effect' as all wallets operating in the Indian subcontinent are mostly debit wallets.

In alignment with its deal with Bajaj Finance, MobiKwik will now also be providing its users with access to buy all types of insurance through its app. The MobiKwik users will also be provided with access to credit cards, EMI cards and personal loans right through the mobile application.

Seeing the high inflow of customer interest in digital payments, a lot of companies are coming up with innovative ways to capitalise on the opportunity. Recently, we reported how a Slovenian company named Margento has decided to bring its technology to India which will allow low-cost feature phones users in India to make mobile payments without internet (Read Here). It seems, the Indian digital payment market is going to see a lot of activity in the coming years.

MobiKwik Will Be India's First Debit-cum-Credit Wallet, Says Its Co-founder

The Indian mobile wallet industry has had a golden run ever since the government pulled off its demonetisation stunt last year. While Paytm is currently leading the pack, there are others who are trying to catch on to the leader of the market. One such player trying to make a mark for itself is Mobikwik. The company recently announced its plans to introduce country's first debit-cum-credit wallet.

"Mobikwik is becoming India's first debit plus credit wallet, where people could have exclusive credit lines, credit cards and EMI cards mapped through the app, increasing the purchasing power of users and enabling them to get lending products available at cheaper interest rates," said MobiKwik Co-founder Upasana Taku in a statement to IANS.

The news comes on the heals of the mobile wallet company raising Rs 225 crore from Bajaj Finance. Under the agreement signed between the two parties, Bajaj will be picking up nearly 11 per cent stake in the company, which means acquiring 10 equity shares and 271,050 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) of Mobikwik.

Last week, Mobikwik’s rival and Snapdeal-owned payment arm Freecharge was sold to Axis Bank for Rs 385 crore.

Starting its journey eight years ago in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, Mobikwik has grown to become a major mobile payment network having over 15 lakh direct merchants and 55 million plus users on its platform.

Upasana believes that being a debit-cum-credit wallet will give the company a 'leapfrog effect' as all wallets operating in the Indian subcontinent are mostly debit wallets.

In alignment with its deal with Bajaj Finance, MobiKwik will now also be providing its users with access to buy all types of insurance through its app. The MobiKwik users will also be provided with access to credit cards, EMI cards and personal loans right through the mobile application.

Seeing the high inflow of customer interest in digital payments, a lot of companies are coming up with innovative ways to capitalise on the opportunity. Recently, we reported how a Slovenian company named Margento has decided to bring its technology to India which will allow low-cost feature phones users in India to make mobile payments without internet (Read Here). It seems, the Indian digital payment market is going to see a lot of activity in the coming years.

10 Startup Stories That Made Healines This Week [12 - 17 June]

IndianWeb2 is back again with its weekly round-up. Here are the 10 news which made the headline this week:

Here Comes The News Of Mobikwik Raising Funds

If sources to be believe, Gurgaon-based startup, Mobikwik is in talks to raise $100 - $150 million in a round that would value the company at more than $1 billion. Upasana Taku, co-founder of Mobikwik has confirmed the news to one of the digital media. This round will lead the company towards the India’s elite club of unicorn startups. Investor's names are not yet revealed by the co-founder, however, she has said that the startup would include one major strategic investor and a number of financial institutions.

The possible fund raise will happen in next couple of months. Further, post raising funds, company plans to invest $45 million of the capital raised on growing user and merchant bases, and expand its current base of six offices to more than 20.

Google Launches Website Builder For SMBs And Startups

The tech giant, Google has rolled out “Website With Google My Business”, a new feature that will help SMBs and startups in India to build a mobile optimised website instantly right from their phone in less than 10 minutes. Being made available in ten languages including English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada and Malayalam, the tool will let businesses create their first website absolutely free of cost.

Available for Google My Business users, this new feature will provide templated, editable websites for SMBs created from their data and photos on Google Maps. The tech giant makes use of small businesses listing to build the website, taking care of the design and makes sure that their website is easily found in Search and Maps.

Co-working Space Innnov8 Elevates Shailesh Gupta As CEO

Co-working space, Innov8 is further strengthening its foothold by adding 7 more centres to its portfolio in next 6 months. The company plans to be in 5 major cities by FY 17. Further company’s board has elevated Shailesh Gupta, one of the two co-founders, as CEO while Dr Ritesh Malik will become the MD of the company.

Within a year and a half of its launch, the startup is operational in Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Delhi and is expanding to Mumbai, Noida and Gurugram by the year-end.

PayTm Mall Rope In Amit Sinha As COO

Paytm Mall has appointed Amit Sinha as the Chief Operating Officer (COO). He will be responsible for overall operations of Paytm Mall and expanding the team to ensure customers have access to the widest assortment of products across categories, delivered quickly through an efficient and optimised partner logistics network. Sinha has served in several key business roles in Paytm and helped implement critical business, HR and financial processes for the company.

Indian Startups Fasten Your Seatbelt And Get Ready To Bag Investment From 500 Startups

Silicon Valley-based early-stage venture fund, 500 Startups is on its way to make 10-12 investments in the Indian startup industry this year. Some of 500 Startups’ global micro funds have already started making investments in the Indian subcontinent this year.

Founded by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai in 2010, the seed accelerator is on the verge of making seven deals in totality, starting with the investment in Spoyl, a used-goods marketplace in December 2016.

Chip Maker Intel Corporation To Invest $178 Mn

Intel Corporation will soon going to invest $178 million in expanding its R&D presence and building a new state-of-the-art design house in Bengaluru. The R&D infrastructure in India will enable the company to continue their momentum in doing cutting-edge innovation and design work from India. Intel India is Intel’s largest design center outside the United States and is engaged in cutting-edge engineering work such as chip or system-on-chip design, graphics, software and platform for the cloud, devices and IoT markets involving advanced technology areas such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and 5G.

Spark10 Accelerator Invites Application For Its Cohort

As part of its newly designed accelerator program, Spark10 accelerator has invited applications for its latest cohort. Previously run two cohorts, in Hyderabad and Bangalore, the accelerator in the past 18 months has invested in 13 Indian startups from fields ranging from artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, e-commerce to nightlife discovery with a collective approximate valuation of over Rs. 50 crores.

The 2016 cohort saw the brightest of Indian startup-brains compete for selection to the first accelerator programme by Spark10. The nine startups mentored in this cohort gained immensely from the mentorship of the experienced team of entrepreneurs, investors and mentors of Spark10.

Visakhapatnam, The Next Tech Startup Hup

Visakhapatnam is all set to be the hub for technology startups. V Valli Kumari, Chief Executive Officer of APIS has stated that they’re looking at young and local talent whose ideas could be turned into successful business models.

The incubation centre which will be specifically promoting IT, electronics, telecom, fabrication and manufacturing startups will soon be coming up. Further, they will soon be organising ‘India International Innovators Fair’ in Visakhapatnam that will see participation from innovators from 30 countries.

Rape Victim Files A New Lawsuit Against Uber

A woman who was raped by an Uber driver in India has filed a new lawsuit against the Uber as company’s executives had obtained her medical records following the attack.

Identified as Jane Doe, the Indian woman and current Texas resident previously filed suit against the company in 2015 after being raped by an Uber driver, charging the ride-hail giant with negligence and fraud. The case was reportedly settled for over $3 million, while her attacker Shiv Kumar Yadav was convicted and imprisoned for life.

An Update On Indian Bitcoin Startups

When it comes to India, bitcoin is still in its nascent stage in the South Asian country. Though not yet recognised by the country’s government, but the bitcoin industry in India is still seeing an increasing growth in number of bitcoin players as well as users. According to experts, the increasing acceptance of the digital currency is fuelled by the surge in its value. The year 2017 especially has been a good one for bitcoin so far as its value touched an all-time high. So, where does India stand on bitcoin? This article aims to make you aware of just that.

Mobikwik To Raise Fresh Funds With $1 Billion Valuation

Few days back we reported that a recent RBI data has revealed that growth of digital payment startups like PayTM, Mobikwik and Freecharge have been spurred by demonetization. Seeing that factor investors are lining up to fund digital payment startups, and as PayTM recently raised whopping $1.4 billion from Softbank and Freecharge's parent company is already down for selling out itself its time for Mobikwik to become next unicorn of India.

According to a report by Techcrunch, Mobikwik's co-founder Upasana Taku confirmed that the company is in talks to raise $100 million--$150 million in a round that would value the company at more than $1 billion, making its entry to India's elite club of Unicorn Startups. Upasana hasn't revealed the investors that her startup is talking to, she however said that the startup would include one major strategic investor and a number of financial institutions.

The possible fund raise will happen in next couple of months and post raising funds Mobikwik plans to invest $45 million of the capital raised on growing user and merchant bases, and expand its current base of six offices to more than 20.

Founded in 2009 by Upasana Taku and Bipin Singh, Gurgaon-based Mobikwik has so far raised about $126.85M in 6 rounds from 9 investors including Sequoia Capital and Tree Line Asia, among others.

Paytm, on other hand, has raised over $2.5 billion from investors with valuation of about $7 billion, and is now second most valuable tech startup in India behind only Flipkart.

Both -- Mobikwik and Payt -- claims to have ridden the wave of demonetization. Mobikwik has registered userbase jumped from 25 million to 55 million, while its merchant base rose to 1.5 million from 250,000 before demonetization. While PaTM is momving to e-commerce segment due to Alibaba's influence MobiKwik, however, has ambitious target is to sustain only the mobile wallet growth and reach 100 million users and 10 million merchants in the next year.

In May 2016 Mobikwik began providing small loans to consumers as part of its service. The company launched its MobiKwik Lite mobile app in November 2016, designed for users of older 2G mobile networks and for those in areas with poor internet connectivity.

In 2014, MobiKwik had also won the mBillionth Award South Asia in the category of Mobile Business, for socially valuable contributions to South Asia's digital infrastructure.

BOB, Times Internet In Talks To Acquire Jasper Infotech's E-wallet FreeCharge

Jasper Infotech-owned digital wallet FreeCharge is in talks with Bank of Baroda (BOB) and Times Internet for an all-cash acquisition. According to a report, the deal size is expected to be in the range of $60 - $75 million. This deal will allow BOB to expand its mobile wallet service, M-Clip which was launched last year and also to get access to millions of young customers FreeCharge has on its platform

Whereas with this deal Times Internet looks to add the wallet service to its online ventures like as Indiatimes Shopping and Gaana to name few.

Prior to this, it was reported that both Paytm and MobiKwik are also in talks for the FreeCharge acquisition. While Paytm has already signed a non-exclusive term sheet with FreeCharge at an expected deal value of $45 – $90 million, MobiKwik deal has still not moved beyond speculation.

Founded in 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal in April 2015 for $450 million which is currently valued at less than 80%. Not only this, recently it also received an investment of $3.38 million from Jasper Infotech.

Company backed by investors such as Valiant Capital Management, Tybourne Capital Management, and Sequoia Capital had secured total of $177.65 million in six rounds of funding including the funds infused by its parent company.

These acquisition talks have come into picture at a time when parent company Snapdeal is already on the verge of finalizing a merger deal with it rival firm Flipkart.

BOB, Times Internet In Talks To Acquire Jasper Infotech's E-wallet FreeCharge

Jasper Infotech-owned digital wallet FreeCharge is in talks with Bank of Baroda (BOB) and Times Internet for an all-cash acquisition. According to a report, the deal size is expected to be in the range of $60 - $75 million. This deal will allow BOB to expand its mobile wallet service, M-Clip which was launched last year and also to get access to millions of young customers FreeCharge has on its platform

Whereas with this deal Times Internet looks to add the wallet service to its online ventures like as Indiatimes Shopping and Gaana to name few.

Prior to this, it was reported that both Paytm and MobiKwik are also in talks for the FreeCharge acquisition. While Paytm has already signed a non-exclusive term sheet with FreeCharge at an expected deal value of $45 – $90 million, MobiKwik deal has still not moved beyond speculation.

Founded in 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal in April 2015 for $450 million which is currently valued at less than 80%. Not only this, recently it also received an investment of $3.38 million from Jasper Infotech.

Company backed by investors such as Valiant Capital Management, Tybourne Capital Management, and Sequoia Capital had secured total of $177.65 million in six rounds of funding including the funds infused by its parent company.

These acquisition talks have come into picture at a time when parent company Snapdeal is already on the verge of finalizing a merger deal with it rival firm Flipkart.

Samsung To Launch 'Samsung Pay', Its Mobile Payment in India

Post the demonetisation announcement, India saw the popularity of its mobile payment service sector increasing by many folds. While the already existing players in the market jumped to action to cash on the opportunity, several new one came up to get a piece of the pie. And now, it seems, Samsung is all ready to debut itself mobile payment service called Samsung Pay in India very soon.

While the tech biggie hasn't made an official announcement about the launch yet, but it did drop in some hints recently.

Yesterday, Samsung rolled out the much-awaited Android Nougat update to its Galaxy S7 and S7 edge devices. The users, when turned on their devices after the update was completed, saw a message saying “The future of payments is coming soon!” This signalled that Samsung has something planned for making payments by mobile sleeker than ever in India. At the top of it, the Nougat update also brought the Samsung Pay app to the company’s flagship devices, cementing the earlier signal that said the future of payments is coming soon to India.

Samsung seems to have adopted tease but don't say anything strategy for launching Samsung Pay in India, and as far we can say and assess, it surely is proving out to be a huge success and has got many people interested in what's coming.

Samsung Pay has been having a good run in a lot of countries around the world and has acquired a unique status in the global mobile payment service sector. One of the things that makes it stand out from the rest in the market is the fact that it makes use of both Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) as well as NFC. For the unversed, MST supports supports older magnetic credit card machines as well. Both NFC and MST support makes Samsung Pay compatible with a majority of card readers and hence users will be able to make use of the service in a majority of restaurants, shops, and petrol pumps etc. across the nation.

Keep watching this space to know the exact date when Samsung Pay will hit the Indian market.

[Top Image: cbronline.com]