Mswipe Technologies Private Limited (“Mswipe” or “the Company”), India's largest independent merchant acquirer and Point of Sale (POS) network provider, today announced its plans to have 1.5 million merchants on its platform by the end of FY 2020.
Apart from expanding its existing line of mPOS terminals, the company is driving forward on two new initiatives - smart POS terminals and UPI QR codes. A bulk of the Series E round of USD 30 million from existing investors Falcon Edge, B Capital, Epiq Capital and DSG Growth Partners will be deployed towards deepening these initiatives, which are already underway. Currently, the company has well over 400,000 merchants on its platform.
Manish Patel, founder and CEO, Mswipe said, “2019 marks our move into the next orbit of growth. We expect to be serving well over a million merchants by this time next year, making us one of the largest and most capital efficient merchant acquirers in the country. Also, on the anvil are tech powered products that will add significant value to merchants including an app-based ecosystem to help our merchant partners beyond payments. We are big believers in offering merchants access to a merchant-friendly cost-effective open ecosystem.”
WisePOS PlusTM - Mswipe’s smart POS terminals (Image - click here)
A segment first, Mswipe is currently laying the foundation for a POS based technology ecosystem to enable widespread adoption of Mswipe’s smartPOS - WisePOS PlusTM. The terminals run on the Android OS, enabling retailers to run multiple applications on them, including billing, inventory management and supply chain along with integrated payments. While the deployment of WisePOS has already begun, Mswipe is currently piloting the MoneyStoreTM, a proprietary app store which will make available top productivity apps like GoFrugal, Tally, ePaisa and Pet Pooja from over 30 of India’s top software developers for small retailers, on the WisePOS platform. These new and advanced terminals will enable Mswipe to tap large organised retail chains across electronics, fashion and FMCG.
“WisePOS Plus is a fantastic innovation for our kind of market. The terminal, powered by a suite of productivity apps, can enable a merchant to save thousands of rupees and hundreds of hours that go into running computer-based billing and inventory solutions with integrated payments. At the same time, we are also creating a huge opportunity for app developers with MoneyStore”, added Manish.
UPI QR code acceptance
Mswipe is all set to enable UPI QR code-based payment acceptance on its platform. This will enable merchants to use the Mswipe app to accept UPI QR Code payments, check transactions and settlements, manage notifications and record all their sales in a single location. For those merchants who use Mswipe’s POS for accepting payments, this will mean a single point of integration for all their sales and inventory and same day settlement into their existing bank account. The company expects to on-board well over 500,000 merchants for this initiative in the current financial year.
emiTM Mcard
Mswipe also expects its emiTM Mcard platform to be a big growth driver in 2019. Having already tested waters with its partnership with CASHe, a Mumbai based NBFC, Mswipe is in talks with several other NBFCs to expand the emiTM Mcard platform. emiTM Mcard enables NBFCs to extend pre-approved loans to customers in the form of cards that can be utilised at any Mswipe merchant location.
Comments from Investors
Deepak I. Shahdadpuri, MD, DSG Consumer Partners said, “We have been very fortunate to have worked with Manish and his team since Mswipe's inception. Over the last seven years, we have seen Mswipe grow into India’s largest non-bank merchant acquirer. We look forward to continuing this partnership as Mswipe embarks on the next phase of its growth journey. We believe that the ecosystem that Mswipe is building will become an integral part of India’s payment ecosystem.”
“Mswipe is well positioned to be the leading SME financial services platform in India. Its market leading POS solutions have a significant paying installed base and distribution, and growth initiatives such as EMI cards enhance the core value proposition and will help drive scale in the coming years,” said Rishi Navani, Founder and Managing Partner, Epiq Capital.
“We are excited to continue to back Mswipe as it builds out the payments and fintech infrastructure for the 50M+ small and medium merchants in India. The Company has been a leader in building an ecosystem of products like digital payments, loans, and inventory management which enables merchants to grow and run their business, said Kabir Narang, General Partner and Asia Co-Head of B Capital Group.
“It’s been an explosive but strategically complex period for Indian payments over the last 18 months. Under Manish’s leadership Mswipe has emerged stronger as a leader in the payments space and it’s been a privilege to have partnered early in Mswipe’s journey. We’re excited about Mswipe’s vision on building India’s largest payments acquiring network and providing unique financial products for SMEs.” Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, Matrix India