&w=3840&q=100)
Fintech POP raises $30 mn from Razorpay to build loyalty-first model
Consumer payments application POP raised $30 million from business-to-business (B2B) fintech Razorpay on Thursday, a year after the company launched its operations on India's real-time payments system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
The investment will enable Razorpay to expand its presence in the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment.
POP has previously raised funding from investors including India Quotient, Unilever Ventures, Incubate Fund and NuVentures.
Since the year of its launch, the fintech firm has clocked over 6 lakh daily UPI transactions, crossed 1 million unique monthly active transactors and executed over two lakh monthly commerce shipments. It claims to have more than 40,000 RuPay credit cards in a co-branded partnership with Yes Bank.
'India doesn't need another cashback-only rewards app. What we need is a new rewards economy built on a long-term purpose. POPcoins are designed to build habits, increase retention and reduce CAC (customer acquisition cost) for merchants — all while making payments more rewarding for the end user,' said Bhargav Errangi, Founder, POP.
He added that the company will double down on a loyalty-first payments ecosystem after Razorpay's investment.
In May, the company clocked 13.5 million UPI transactions. It is ranked 21st on the UPI leaderboard, which is currently dominated by PhonePe and Google Pay.
'Our investment in POP is driven by a clear purpose and that is to serve D2C merchants better. In today's crowded D2C space, brands need more than just payment solutions; they need tools to earn trust, drive repeat purchases and build real loyalty,' said Harshil Mathur, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Razorpay.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
4 hours ago
- Business Standard
Fintech industry seeks UPI merchant discount rate levy on large sellers
MDR refers to a fee that merchants pay banks or companies processing payments for executing a transaction Ajinkya Kawale Mumbai Listen to This Article A proposed framework to introduce a fee structure for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions that will target large merchants, while ensuring that end users continue to make payments without any merchant discount rate (MDR), is being pursued by the sector, according to sources from the financial technology (fintech) industry. This comes even as the Ministry of Finance, in a social media post on X last week, clarified that it did not plan to introduce an MDR on UPI payments. If the proposal is accepted, customers who use UPI for daily transactions will not have to pay any fee to continue
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
Nandan Nilekani likely to head power reforms panel
Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is likely to head a task force on the digitisation and decentralisation of the Indian power sector , officials aware of the development told ET. If it goes according to plan, this would be the second time the government has asked Nilekani to give a blueprint for power reforms. The Nilekani-led task force will be supported from funds allocated under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) of the power ministry. "A correction of up to 25% in generation, transmission and distribution costs is the desired outcome of this exercise," an official aware of the project told ET. ET's email queries to Nilekani did not elicit a response until press time. Live Events In a post on X in March, Nilekani had said, "Energy is the next UPI! Millions of small producers will participate in the Digital Energy Grid (DEG)". In February, the Foundation for Interoperability in Digital Economy (FIDE) and International Energy Agency (IEA) published a whitepaper on the DEG. Nilekani co-authored the foreword of this report. The FIDE-IEA report proposed a future where every home with a solar panel, or an electric vehicle (EV) battery, will be generating, storing and trading energy instead of just consuming it. "In this world, millions of everyday citizens become active participants in the energy economy, transacting not just with the grid, but directly with each other over a shared digital mesh," a statement from FIDE had said. A pilot DEG project is expected to be shortly launched in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. It will be based on Unified Energy Interface (UEI), a digital architecture similar to UPI. Sector watchers said this project and lowering manual intervention in the power sector is expected to reduce costs to the end consumers.
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Time of India
India's digital economy a powerhouse; trust, security key to sustain momentum in AI era: Google India head
Swift expansion of India's digital economy has cemented the country's status as a "powerhouse", Google India 's Country Manager and Vice President Preeti Lobana has said, emphasising that a razor sharp focus on trust and security are key to sustaining the momentum in the AI era . In an interview to PTI, the newly appointed top executive of Google India asserted that the US tech firm is "deeply committed to having rich, thriving digital ecosystem when it comes to Android or Play Store". According to her, Google sees "competition" as means of making the "digital ecosystem richer". Lobana declined to comment on the specifics of the search giant's antitrust cases in the country (bundling of the Play Store with Android TV OS, a case that Google settled by paying Rs 20 crore or the Play Store policies case) but said the company complies with the local laws in any country it operates in. "So we will work with the government and any of the regulatory bodies to make sure we are complying," she affirmed. New technologies, like artificial intelligence , are unleashing creative potential, but, at the same time, bringing to the fore challenges around deepfakes, she acknowledged. "And therefore, our efforts to make sure that whatever content is created using our AI, there are watermarks on that, and then enabling or sharing tools through which a wider section of users can upload some of this content to be able to identify the 'synthID'," Lobana said. Tackling AI-powered misinformation and deepfakes requires industry-wide collaboration, she said, noting this remains a key area of the ongoing focus and development not only for Google but other industry stakeholders as well. Google sees India as a critical market, Lobana said, adding that with the country on track to reach a $1-trillion digital economy in the near future, the tech giant hopes to leverage its expertise in advertising, cloud technology, and advanced AI to contribute to the nation's economic growth. The top honcho of Google India said she is excited to have taken over her new role at a "critical and exciting juncture" as the company looks to contribute to India's economic progress, especially in the digital space. "Google looks at India as a critical market. We are deeply engaged here, deeply committed. We are all-in and when you look at the breadth of 'One Google', we are here across all our products," she said. Lobana cited the uniqueness of India's digital landscape that has seen remarkable adoption rates when it comes to new technologies. She noted that proliferation of systems like UPI , and by extension, payment platforms such as Google Pay have exceeded expectations. "So, if you look at the digital landscape in India, (it is) so unique... think about the adoption. Who would have imagined a few years ago that UPI and therefore, consequently, you know, payment systems like Google Pay would be so widely adopted," she said. The takeoff and the billions of transactions that get enabled through UPI have been nothing short of amazing, she said, adding that the digital payment system has made a big difference to how people consume and purchase. "As you know, we are looking at a 1 trillion digital economy in the next few years... so how do we bring the best of Google ads, our cloud and cutting-edge AI to power India's economic momentum," she said, outlining Google's priorities for this market. India has become a strong player in the way its digital economy has developed overtime, she said, emphasising that trust and security will be crucial to its continued success. "India is a powerhouse in terms of how the digital economy has taken off, right? But none of that good stuff will continue to grow and evolve without that deep foundational layer of people having trust, people feeling secure," she said. On Tuesday, the company unveiled Google Safety Charter for India's AI-led transformation. As per Google, the charter is a blueprint for tackling the online world's new challenges collaboratively with the wider ecosystem. This includes keeping the end user safe from online frauds and scams; cybersecurity for government and enterprise infrastructure; and building AI responsibly. Lobana further noted that India was the launchpad for YouTube Shorts and GPay -- showcasing the key role the market plays in Google's global strategy. "So if you think about the short form video 'shorts' came on YouTube first to India... Look at the scale of Google Pay in India. So that is where we launched the product, taking the learnings overseas. So India is a very critical market for us, and we have made investments in putting a lot of large teams here," she said.
