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Paynear in expansion mode, plans to raise $10 mn
Paynear Solutions Pvt Limited, which offers cashless payment solutions to merchants and small businesses, is gearing up for a major expansion drive, with plans to have its operations in 50 cities within a year from the existing 12 cities. To fund this major expansion, the city-based startup is looking to raise $10 million (about Rs 66 crore).
Hyd-based payment solutions start-up to take its operations to 50 cities from 12 now
Hyderabad: Paynear Solutions Pvt Limited, which offers cashless payment solutions to merchants and small businesses, is gearing up for a major expansion drive, with plans to have its operations in 50 cities within a year from the existing 12 cities. To fund this major expansion, the city-based startup is looking to raise $10 million (about Rs 66 crore).
“Over 5,000 small businesses and merchants are currently using our services across 12 cities in the country. We have ready plans to cover 40 to 50 cities within a year,” R Prabhuram, Managing Director, Paynear Solutions Private Limited, told The Hans India.
Founded in 2013 by a team of professionals with experience in payment industry, the startup has developed mPay, a mobile point of sale solution (mPOS) application that enables even small merchants and hotel owners to undertake cashless transactions. The company is importing devices, each of which costs around Rs 9,000, from the UK and China, and offering them to merchants on one-time payment of Rs 1,500 and a monthly rent of Rs 300.
“India is home to over five crore merchants, but majority of them have no access to the POS payment solutions offered by the banks. Our aim is to bridge the gap. We are targeting to deploy as many as five lakh devices over the next five years,” Prabhuram explained.
To help the merchants earn some extra income, Paynear is in the process of launching an application which will allow them to accept utility bills. “We will also launch money transfer services which will be another revenue avenue for the merchants. Other idea is to allow cash withdrawals from bank accounts, which will turn our device into a mini ATM,” he said.
According to him, a total investment of over Rs 25 crore has gone into the startup till now. “We have on our own invested Rs 10 crore and raised Rs 5 crore from friends and family. US-based serial entrepreneur Mitesh Majithia who hails from Hyderabad has put in the remaining amount,” he said.
He further said that the company would raise another $10 million to fund its expansion plans for the next two years. “We are actively talking to VCs and may close the deal in six months time,” he said.
By P Madhusudhan Reddy
