Muthoot Fincorp Acquires Majority Stake In Fintech Startup Paymatrix

Gold loan company Muthoot Fincorp has picked up 54% stake in Hyderabad-based rental collection startup Paymatrix by buying out existing investors as part of its added focus on the digital payments segment, according to reports.

“We now hold a majority in Paymatrix, having given full exit to many of the existing investors. We’ve acquired 54% equity shareholding in the startup through a combination of primary and secondary investments,” Muthoot Pappachan Group chairman Thomas John Muthoot told PTI. The company has not shared the deal value.

“This investment in Paymatrix will help us extend our existing lending business by giving us a competitive edge in terms of expanding our product offerings and make a foray into new markets and new customer segments,” he added.

Incubated by global fintech major Paypal, Paymatrix was set up in 2016 with a vision to streamline property rent payments and rent collections for tenants and landlords. According to details available on Crunchbase, the fintech startup has raised about $407.6K funding previously across six rounds of seed funding. It received investments from SucSEED Venture Partners, Xseed Partners and IIIT-Hyderabad seed fund. 

It started off as a platform for online payment of property rentals, rent deposits and maintenance payments using credit cards and has since gone on to become one of the largest property rent payment and collection platforms in the country, with a user base of over 82,000 and having processed INR 200 crore till date, Muthoot said.

In the past two years, Paymatrix diversified its portfolio by enabling payments beyond rental collections into any large ticket recurring expenses like tuition fees, maintenance bills, vendor payments etc through credit cards.

The Muthoot Pappachan Group is into financial services, automotive retail, realty, hospitality, IT and alternate energy and sports, employing over 27,000 people. The group runs fintech entities across gold loans, micro-finance, financial advisory and housing and auto loans.