Cashfree Invests $15 Mn In UAE-based Payments Startup Telr

Payments and API (Application Program Interface) banking solutions company Cashfree Payments made an equity investment of $15 Mn in Telr, a payment service provider that operates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. According to Cashfree, this investment makes them one of the largest shareholders in the country. 

Founded in 2015 by Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta, Cashfree provides full-stack payments solutions that enable businesses to collect payments. Its offerings include split payment solutions for marketplaces, an API for bank account verification and Auto Collect: a virtual account solution that matches incoming UPI, NEFT, IMPS and RTGS payments to the clients that made them. 

According to the startup, it processes transactions worth $20 Bn annually, has a 50% market share among the payment processors, and helps more than 1,00,000 businesses with payment collections, vendor payouts, wage payouts, bulk refunds, expense reimbursements, loyalty and rewards. The startup also has a global presence in countries including the USA, Canada and the UAE.

Cashfree Payments was incubated by PayPal and backed by Y Combinator, Apis Partners and the State Bank of India (SBI); which made an undisclosed investment in the organisation.

“Joining forces with Cashfree Payments will further enable us to continue on our innovation  and growth (sic) journey. Our offerings and partnerships aim to assist in reaching an integrated e-commerce ecosystem supporting the UAE in its transition into a cashless economy and contributing to the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) vision 2030,” said Khalil Alami, CEO and founder of Telr. 

Founded in 2014 by Khalil Alam, Telr is a Dubai-based startup that offers payment solutions for SMEs, government bodies and large corporations. The startup claims to help businesses to conduct transactions in over 120 currencies with platform capabilities in 30 languages. Some of its offerings include social commerce, QR code payments, anti-fraud protection, shopping cart integrations and digital invoicing. 

Last week, Network International (NI), an enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NPCI International Payments Ltd. (NIPL), the international arm of the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).

Through the MoU, both parties will explore their collaboration on the acceptance of NIPL’s UPI (Unified Payment Interface) in the UAE, leveraging NI’s payment infrastructure and network strength.