Indian P2P money transfer app Chillr raises US$6M from Sequoia
The fintech startup will use the funds for merchant and customer acquisitions
Chillr, a peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile money transfer app in India, has secured US$6 million in a Series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital.
Chillr, run by Kochi (south India)-based startup Backwater Technologies, will use the funds for customer and merchant acquisitions.
Mohamed Galib, VP (Innovations) at Chillr, told e27 that the startup is currently in talks with two new investors to raise another US$1 million toward this round.
Also Read: Transfer money to your phonebook contacts almost instantly with Chillr
Launched in February this year by Sony Joy, Chillr claims to have seen around 350,000 downloads till date. The app sees over 5,000 transactions per day and it targets 100,000 transactions per day by the end of this year. The startup has currently partnered with HDFC Bank and Bank of Baroda to facilitate the service.
How does Chillr work?
Once the app is downloaded, one needs to verify the mobile number and choose the preferred bank account he/she wishes to link with Chillr. For HDFC Bank customers, the account number linked to the mobile number is automatically fetched from the database.
Also Read: Kakao partners Tencent and eBay to bid for online banking license
After completing registration, the user can select ‘pay’, choose the recipient from the list of people in his/her phonebook, enter the amount and a message, enter the M-PIN issued by the bank and confirm the transaction.
The amount will be debited from the bank account and credited to the recipient’s bank account instantly. If the recipient is not a Chillr user yet, an invitation to download the app is automatically sent out. The fund transfer happens only once the recipient downloads Chillr and links a bank account.
Chillr is mainly competing with VCs-funded Citrus and faircent, among others.
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