BENGALURU: Payments startup
Razorpay
’s valuation has tripled to $3 billion in less than six months as it closed a new funding round of $160 million. Its existing investors GIC and
Sequoia Capital India
have co-led the new funding while its existing investors like
Tiger Global
and Ribbit Capital have also participated in the new financing.
Razorpay is one of the
startups
that witnessed the positive impact of the pandemic as it gave a further boost to digital payments further in India. This explains the quick jump in its valuation compared to October last year, when the Y Combinator-backed startup turned a unicorn, a moniker for startups valued at $ 1 billion or more.
Harshil Mathur, co-founder and CEO, Razorpay told TOI the company will use new capital to expand and double down on its neo-banking and lending businesses besides expanding in SouthEast Asia. The six-year-old startup has now raised over $366 million in total.
“We are in the middle of talks for a couple of small-to-mid sized acquisitions where the new capital will also be used for.
International market
will be another avenue where each country will have its requirements. We are also hiring in these markets,” said Mathur. Razorpay, which competes against the likes of Prosus fin-tech unit PayU, is exploring markets like Indonesia as part of its international expansion.
Mathur said the increase in valuation is reflective of its overall business growth which too grew by three times in the last one year. It’s lending business has also grown significantly where it's now lending anywhere between Rs 700-800 crore compared to Rs 300 crore at the end of last year. Razorpay’s lending is largely focused on meeting the advance payment requirements of small businesses. It also offers additional services to its mix of online and offline-focused business with products like payroll management and corporate credit cards.
The Bengaluru-based startup said it plans to clock a total payment volume (TPV) of $50 billion by end of the current year compared to current TPV of $35-$40 billion. In total, it has about five million and merchants. “In the last one year alone,we have added 1.5 million new merchants,” Mathur added. Some of its merchants include large firms like Facebook, Airtel, Swiggy and Cred among others. It is aiming to double its total merchant base to 10 million by the end of this year.