At the Chindia TMT Dialogue Conference 2017 in Beijing last week, AllChinaTech interviewed some of the hottest startups in India. Here is the story of Instamojo:
Founded in: 2012
Founder: Sampad Swain
Financing status: Series A financing at USD 3 million
Three years ago, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India had to deal with complex requirements, tons of paperwork, and tech barriers before they could set up a system to receive payments from customers. However, SMEs are usually not equipped to handle such complex requirements. With the entry of Instamojo in 2013, the setting up of online payment systems became much easier for India’s SMEs.
Founded by Sampad Swain in 2012, Instamojo is the first online payment company to launch such a payment service in India. To launch a payment account with Instamojo, you don’t need to be tech savvy – all you need is a phone number and a bank account. Swain, the co-founder and CEO of Instamojo, said that this payment method is the biggest innovation in India’s payment market. Instamojo now has more than 250,000 SME merchants in its portfolio, with 65 percent of merchants based in non-metro cities (i.e. Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities).
Apart from its fuss-free payment system, Instamojo also gives SMEs several options to accept payments. These include invoice solutions and QR codes. Prior to Instamojo, the only way that SMEs could accept payments online was through API integration.
“Now, anyone can set up a shop, and they can start selling and accepting payments right away,” Swain told AllChinaTech. For instance, a housewife can start to sell jewelry on Facebook after setting up her Instamojo account.
Instamojo is a business model that several institutional investors see as lucrative. Some of Instamojo’s institutional investors include Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures, and 500 Startups. Instamojo raised USD 3 million in its Series A financing, and is currently seeking potential foreign investors in Singapore, Hong Kong and China.
It is the first company in India to launch this kind of simplified payment system, and it is also the fastest growing one as well. Swain said that statistics have shown that there are about 51 million SMEs in India, and less than 5 million SMEs are using digital modes of transactions on the Internet. Swain said that Instamojo’s aim is to educate and guide the other 90 percent of SMEs to use the Internet for their transactions.
(Top photo from Pexels)
