Excl: Mobile PoS solutions provider Mswipe raises fresh funding from Matrix Partners and Axis Bank

Mumbai-based mobile POS services provider Mswipe Technologies Pvt Ltd has raised its Series B round of funding from existing investors Matrix Partners and Axis Bank, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Techcircle.in.

One of the sources said that Mswipe had also received term sheets from Sequoia Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and Hitachi controlled Prizm Payments but decided to go with existing investors for the fresh funding.

When contacted, Mswipe's MD & CEO Manish Patel and Matrix Partners' MD Rishi Navani declined to comment.

Mswipe raised angel round from a group of investors including Deepak Shahdadpuri, founder and MD, Beacon India Private Equity Fund and former head of investment banking at Anand Rathi, Praveen Chakravarty, in 2012. In January last year, Mswipe secured Series A funding, led by Matrix Partners. Axis Bank had also participated in this round.

Mswipe was set up in March 2011 by Patel, who holds a degree in medicine from Mumbai University. Prior to starting Mswipe, he co-founded Milestone Merchandise, an alcohol-beverages distribution company.

Mswipe essentially targets SMBs with its PoS solutions. It offers a mobile phone-based PoS service for small merchants that enables plastic card payments via mobile phone. It also provides a card reader that can be attached to any mobile phone (be it smartphone or feature phone) via a 3.5mm headphone jack. Once attached, the card reader converts the mobile phone into a card acceptance device.

In an interview with Techcircle.in early last year, Patel had said that the company had around 4,000 merchants signed up with it and was adding 1,500 merchants a month.

The company was looking to reach a milestone of 50,000 merchants by the end of the current financial year (2013-14). Some of its merchant partners include Reliance Life Insurance, MakeMyTrip, Asian Paints, ICICI Prudential, Carzonrent and McDonald's, among others.

For more details on the funding click here.