Dubai, NFAPost: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has picked up a minority stake in the IPO-bound digital payments player Mobikwik for nearly $20 million (about Rs 150 crore), valuing it at $700 million.
The company was in bad press in March after alleged massive data theft, following which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had ordered a forensic audit on the company setup in 2009. Personal data of its about 10 million customers were allegedly stolen by hackers.
The latest round of funding of $20 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority values the company at $700 million (nearly Rs 5,193 crore), according to a Registrar of Companies (RoC) filing by Mobikwik. Since March 2021, it has raised over Rs 235 crore.
The company also recently added investors such as ex-Blackstone India head Mathew Cyriac, Padma awardee Sat Pal Khattar, and ex-Infosys chief investment officer V G Dheeshjith as new shareholders. Its other investors include Sequoia Capital and Bajaj Finance. According to investment banking sources, Mobikwik is working on a Rs 1,200-crore primary share sale, which is likely to hit the markets by September.
According to a PwC report in December 2020, the country’s digital payments market may reach Rs 163 lakh crore by next financial year. With Facebook’s WhatsApp winning permission to offer payments locally, competition among digital payments players like Google Pay, Walmart’ PhonePe and Paytm has increased.
