Ezetap bags $23 million to help mom-and-pop stores accept cards

Launched in 2013, Ezetap processes transactions worth $1 million per day through 60,000 points of sale across India and is adding 500 new small retail merchants a week, reports Tech in Asia

Indian mobile payment start-up Ezetap today announced that it has secured $23 million in Series C funding from Horizons Ventures (the private investment arm for Li Ka-Shing), Capricorn Investment Group and existing investors. Last year, the start-up raised $8 million from Helion Advisors, Silicon Valley-based Social+Captial Partnership and Berggruen.
 

The Bengaluru-based start-up makes a square-esque gadget that attaches to a smartphone and allows retailers and merchants to process credit card transactions on their phones. It doesn’t buy third-party readers, but has its own production system. Ezetap’s customers include companies in ecommerce (so they can take payment upon delivery at the doorstep), bill payment and collections, insurance, restaurants and hospitality, retail, taxi services and organizations focused on financial inclusion.
 

Launched in 2013, Ezetap says it processes transactions worth $1 million per day through 60,000 points of sale across India. It claims to be adding 500 new small retail merchants a week and will use the funds to increase its reach to 200,000 merchants in a year.
 

Ezetap competes with Mswipe, which got $25 million in Series C funding last month. According to Ezetap co-founder and CEO Abhijit Bose, his start-up is unique because Ezetap’s mobile applications are configurable by any merchant.

Bose is a Harvard graduate and former Intuit employee. He teamed up with CTO Bhakta Keshavachar and Chairman Sanjay Swamy to launch Ezetap. It was incubated by Bengaluru-based Angelprime.
 

Ezetap charges a basic banking fee and a subscription fee. Since most of the purchases in India are based on cash-on-delivery terms, online shops are equipping their couriers with card-readers. Less than 5% of the 12-15 million small- and medium-sized enterprises in India are equipped to swipe a card, which makes it a huge market.

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.