Payment gateway services startup NumberMall gets funding from SRI Capital

Hyderabad-based NumberMall Pvt Ltd, an online payment gateway services startup that also enables users to recharge their mobile phones and book bus tickets online, has raised an undisclosed amount in equity funding from SRI Capital, an early-stage VC fund run by angel investor Sashi Reddi. As part of the deal, Reddi will join NumberMall's board.

Started in 2012 by Kiran Gali, NumberMall is a merchant-managed platform that aggregates all services in one wallet. Users can use the platform to recharge their mobile phones, DTH and data cards, in addition to purchasing bus tickets. The firm is planning to introduce services like insurance premiums payments, utility bill payments, train and air ticket booking, holiday packages, hotel bookings and money transfers.

NumberMall claims to have a network of over 13,000 merchants in south India. It now aims on-board 100,000 merchants within the next 18 months.

"NumberMall is a revenue-generation platform for merchants. Using the NumberMall platform, merchants earn additional revenue by providing services like bill payment and phone recharge to their customers. In addition, NumberMall provides a way for merchants to make targeted hyper local offers to customers in their immediate area instead of wasting money on newspaper ads or distributing flyers," said Gali.

The firm claims it clocked a gross merchandise value of Rs 117 crore in FY14, compared with Rs 37 crore in the year-ago period. It expects to touch a GMV of Rs 200 crore in FY15.

The company is now looking to raises $10 million in Series A round of funding next year for pan-India expansion.

"NumberMall is pioneering hyper local marketing enabling small merchants to cost-effectively reach customers in their immediate neighbourhood. There is nothing else like it in India today," said Reddi.

Headquartered in Hyderabad, SRI Capital invests between $50,000 and $500,000 in early-stage tech ventures for a significant minority stake. SRI's past investments include ShepHertz, YuppTV, Oximity, Edutor and Glassbeam.

SRI also runs a startup incubator out of Hyderabad.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)