MobiSwipe raises funding from One97 Mobility Fund

Mobile payment solutions provider MobiSwipe Technologies Pvt Ltd has received undisclosed funding from early-stage investor One97 Mobility Fund.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of One97 Communications, which runs One97 Mobility Fund along with private equity firm SAIF Partners, will join MobiSwipe board as its chairman.

Mumbai-based MobiSwipe, which enables merchants to accept credit and debit card payments using Android-based mobile phones and tablets as Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, will use the money to expand its operations to new cities and to hire more people, according to its co-founder and joint CEO Harmeet Singh Arora.

The company aims to launch its mobile payment solution in 3-4 weeks. "We have already partnered with a PSU bank to launch our product," Arora told TechCircle.in.

With almost eight employees on board, the company is currently operating out of Mumbai and Chennai and will be opening offices in Delhi and Bangalore soon. MobiSwipe is also eying the Asian and Middle East markets to expand its operations in one or two years.

Founded in 2011 by Suresh Santhanaramakrishnan, a founding member of BharatMatrimony.com, and Arora, a veteran in the web and mobile space, MobiSwipe offers a mobile payment service to merchants to accept debit and credit card payments anywhere, anytime.

One97 Communications also offers online recharges for mobile, DTH and other utilities under the Paytm brand.

The mobile payments market in India has been witnessing surging interest, with a number of companies launching PoS solutions. Some of the startups that offer mobile-based PoS payments are PayMate, MSwipe, EzeTap and iKaaZ. Earlier this month, Ezetap raised $3.5 million from Chamath Palihapitiya's Social+Capital Partnership, a Silicon Valley-based VC firm, Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal) and others. Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India recently invested an undisclosed amount in Mumbai-based Citrus Payment Solutions Pvt Ltd, an online payments solution provider.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)