Avendus Capital advises Mswipe on its Series D financing led by UC RNT and Falcon Edge with participation from existing investors.

Mswipe Technologies Pvt Ltd has raised a Series D round of $31 million from UC RNT and existing investors Falcon Edge, Matrix Partners and DSG. Axis Bank exited as a part of the transaction.

Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to Mswipe’s Series D round.

Mswipe, headquartered in Mumbai, has a network of 246,000 terminals across 550 cities in India with annual transaction value above INR 9,000cr. Mswipe provides complete end to end payment ecosystem encompassing merchant management, mobile app, transaction gateway, risk monitoring and settlement. Mswipe primarily targets SMEs without access to any type of POS (Point of Sale) terminals and with turnover in the range of INR 1-5 lakh/ month. The transaction value on the Mswipe network grew 4x while the number of installations grew 3x in the last year.

Commenting on the transaction, Manish Patel, founder & CEO, Mswipe said “With merchants of all sizes actively looking to enable digital payment acceptance at their establishments, we expect to grow exponentially going ahead, create card and electronic payment acceptance infrastructure across cities and widen our user base.”

Manish adds that the startup is now looking at developing the next generation Android based smart POS terminals that will offer merchants capabilities like GST compliant billing and inventory management with integrated and seamless payment acceptance, on the same device. “All this, while ensuring the same level of security and trust for the customers,” he says.

The Indian government’s demonetization of bank notes in November ‘16 flipped the dynamics of the payment ecosystem by rapidly accelerating the adoption of digital payments in India. Card payments at POS terminals have gone up 32% in the five months following the demonetization with the number of POS machines growing to 1.6x in 6 months. However, with more than 80% of MSMEs without access to digital payments, there exists a large opportunity for MSME focused players like Mswipe with targeted products and services.

Commenting on the transaction, Abha Agarwal, Director at Avendus Capital said, “Having been engaged with the Company for about two years now (since the last round) – we have been highly impressed with the sharp focus on execution by Manish and the Mswipe team. Mswipe has stayed ahead in the product innovation curve and has successfully managed to continuously adapt to the dynamic digital payments space in India. Investment by UC RNT along with additional infusion by existing investors will enable the company to scale further and help accelerate market expansion.”

About Avendus Capital Pvt. Ltd. (“Avendus Capital”)

The Avendus Group (Avendus) is a leading provider of financial services with an emphasis on customized solutions in the areas of Financial Advisory, Wealth Management, Structured Credit Solutions and Alternative Assets Management. Avendus relies on its extensive experience, in-depth domain understanding and knowledge of the regulatory environment, to offer customized solutions that enable clients to meet their strategic aspirations. Avendus Capital has consistently been ranked among the leading financial advisors by overall number of deals. It has a strong track record of cross-border transactions and has helped multiple clients benefit from opportunities across geographies. Avendus’s wide range of clients is testimony to its ability to serve its corporate clients throughout their life cycle – from growth stage funding to complex, large sized transactions later in the cycle.

Avendus Capital Inc. and Avendus Capital (UK) Pvt. Ltd. located in New York and London respectively are wholly owned subsidiaries offering M&A and Private Equity syndication services to clients in the respective regions.

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