Payments startup MobiKwik targets Mumbai IPO by September

One MobiKwik System Pvt, the Indian digital wallet and payments startup, is targeting an initial public offering before September that could raise between $200 million and $250 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

MobiKwik is planning to file its draft IPO prospectus by May for an offering in Mumbai that could value the company at more than $1 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The Gurgaon-based company intends to hold a pre-IPO funding round that could give the startup a valuation of about $700 million, the people said.

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Deliberations are ongoing and details such as the size and timing of the fundraising could change, the people said. A representative for MobiKwik declined to comment.

MobiKwik records more than a million transactions per day, across offerings including digital wallets and services such as mobile phone top-ups and utility bill payments, according to its website. Its network includes over 3 million merchants and serves in excess of 107 million users. Founded in 2009, the company counts Sequoia Capital and Bajaj Finance Ltd. among its backers.

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The value of transactions in India’s digital payments market could reach 163 trillion rupees ($2.3 trillion) in 2022-2023, according to a PwC report. The sector is fast becoming a proxy battleground for foreign tech giants, with Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp winning permission in November to operate locally, competing against Google Pay, Walmart Inc.’s PhonePe and Paytm which is backed by both Ant Group Co. and SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund. In July, MobiKwik co-founder Bipin Preet Singh called on Indian regulators to nurture local companies and guard against foreign competitors.