South Africa’s Net1 forays into India’s online payments space with a US$40M investment in MobiKwik
Net1’s virtual card technology will be integrated across all MobiKwik wallets in order to provide ubiquity across all merchants in India
Bipin Preet Singh, Founder of Mobikwik
Net1 UEPS Technologies, a Nasdaq-listed alternative payments company headquartered in Johannesburg, has agreed to invest US$40 million in Indian mobile wallet company MobiKwik.
The South African firm has also signed a subscription agreement with MobiKwik. As part of this, Net1’s virtual card technology will be integrated across all MobiKwik wallets, in order to provide ubiquity across all merchants in India.
“Our strategic investment in MobiKwik provides us with meaningful participation in one of the largest and fastest growing digital payment markets globally,” said Serge Belamant, Chairman and CEO of Net1. “We believe that this investment will accelerate our ability to build scale in India. Over the next three years, MobiKwik has targeted having 150 million users and 500,000 merchants, and the introduction of our various technologies is expected to enhance their value proposition and differentiation to users, online and offline merchants, increase acceptance, and accelerate growth.”
Also Read: MobiKwik raises US$50M Series C to take on Alibaba-backed Paytm
Net1 is a leading provider of alternative payment systems that leverages its Universal Electronic Payment System or utilises its proprietary mobile technologies. The company operates payment processors in South Africa and the Republic of Korea.
Through its product Transact24, Net1 offers debit, credit and prepaid processing and issuing services for Visa, MasterCard and ChinaUnionPay in China and other territories across Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa and the US. Through Masterpayment, Net1 provides payment processing and enables working capital financing in Europe.
Net1’s mobile technologies include its proprietary mobile payments solution MVC, which offers secure mobile-based payments, as well as mobile banking and prepaid value-added services in developed and emerging countries.
“With Net1’s expertise and track record in facilitating financial inclusion across Africa, our strategic relationship with MobiKwik marks an important milestone from which we can leverage India’s substantial efforts to drive financial inclusion, down to the grassroots in rural and deep rural areas. Many of our solutions, most notably UEPS/EMV, are tailor-made to provide multiple financial and other services, increase accessibility, eliminate fraud and reduce cash,” Belamant added.
Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, Gurugram-based MobiKwik is a mobile payments network with over 32 million users and 100,000 retailers. The firm has raised three rounds of funding from Sequoia Capital, American Express, Tree Line Asia, MediaTek, GMO Payment Gateway and Cisco Investments.
Also Read: Indian mobile wallet firm MobiKwik raises US$6.6M additional funding
There are many similarities between South Africa and India, including highly-regulated markets, limited infrastructure and large unbanked populations.
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