Bengaluru-based payments and banking technology company, Cashfree, has announced its collaboration with D2C sleep and home solutions startup, Wakefit.co, to enable seamless payment options and instant refunds for customers.
Cashfree is a payments and banking technology company that enables businesses in India to collect and send money via all available methods with a single integration.
Founded by IIIT Hyderabad alumnus Akash Sinha and IIT Kharagpur graduate Reeju Datta, www.cashfree.com enables more than 50,000 businesses with payment collections, vendor payouts, wage payouts, bulk refunds, expense reimbursements, loyalty, and rewards.
Incubated by payments pioneer PayPal, Cashfree is backed by Apis Partners, Smilegate and Y Combinator.
According to the latest data on consumer complaints by the National Consumer Helpline, out of 62,310 grievances registered in October 2020, nearly 24,658 were related to e-commerce, out of which close to 30% were refund-related glitches, Cashfree said in a release.
In order to enhance the customer experience, especially during return and refund requests, and minimise the refund wait time for customers from the existing five to eight days, the company has partnered with Cashfree to leverage its Cashgram feature.
With the Cashgram integration, Wakefit.co can directly send payout links generated by Cashfree to its customers over WhatsApp, who can then redeem the refunds in real-time by entering their bank account, UPI or preferred wallet details. Wakefit.co has also been using Cashfree’s payment gateway to collect customer payments online.
Cashfree CEO and Co-founder Akash Sinha said, “Cashfree enables businesses to offer their customers the most convenient, seamless and secure payments experience.”
“By offering automated and instant refunds to customers, the number of customer queries would be mitigated, significantly reducing the business’ operating expenditure,” Sinha added.
Wakefit.co is a research and innovation-driven sleep and home solutions company established in March 2016. It has been founded by Ankit Garg and Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, with a vision to democratise sleep and home solutions in India.
With a portfolio that previously included mattresses, pillows, bed frames, mattress protector, bedsheets, comforter, neck pillows, and back cushions, Wakefit.co is now expanding to include home solutions products such as sofas, wardrobes, study tables, bookshelves, shoe racks, TV units, side tables, coffee tables, towels and more.
It manufactures its products in-house across three locations and has 22 warehouses across the country. With over 6 Lakh customers serviced and over 1 Lakh customer reviews online in its five years of existence, the company has received Series A funding in 2018 from Sequoia Capital India and Series B funding in 2020 from Verlinvest and Sequoia Capital India.
Wakefit.co VP – Growth Parasar Sarma said, “Wakefit.co has always endeavoured to create high-quality and affordable sleep and home solutions that are accessible to Indian households with a monthly income of Rs 30,000 and above.”
“We strive to understand the pain points of this demographic and are constantly attempting to create processes that can help enhance the customer journey at every touchpoint. Returns and refunds form an integral part of our customer journey and encompass an important element of one of our brand promises; the 100-day trial policy with 100% refunds within the trial period,” Sarma added.
