Inc42 Daily Brief
Stay Ahead With Daily News & Analysis on India’s Tech & Startup Economy
Gurgaon-based mobile wallet company MobiKwik has launched its ‘Cash Pickup’ service for the users to recharge their wallet instantly. The facility which is presently available in Delhi-NCR will soon be available across all major cities in the country.
What is ‘Cash Pickup’ service?
Mobikwik’s ‘Cash Pickup’ service is a facility that will allow users to add cash in their wallet by paying cash to the company’s agent. This will benefit the users who do not have access to any bank accounts, credit cards or debit cards as well.
It is seen that the potential for mobile-based banking services is huge in the country with 70% of users not owing any bank account. Also, of those who do have bank accounts, a majority of them do not use their credit or debit card online or do have not access to internet banking.
Mobikwik has partnered with various ecommerce retailers like Uber, Meru Cabs, Big Bazaar, WHSmith India, Café Coffee Day, Myntra, Jabong, Pepperfry and more to facilitate mobile wallet payments. Through cash pickup the users will be able to recharge wallet from INR 100 to INR 10,000 and will be able to pay for bills, food, travel & cabs, shopping, entertainment etc through the wallet. Though the company is presently witnessing transaction above INR 1000.
How To Use Mobikwik’s ‘Cash Pickup’ service?
In order to use MobiKwik’s doorstep cash pickup service, users need to visit the CashPay tab on the MobiKwik app and click on ‘Request Cash Pickup’ which will activate the nearest MobiKwik agent. (User’s location can be automatically detected by the app.) The agent will initiate the cash transaction and after the OTP is entered into the agent’s app, the wallet gets recharged.
With the new facility Mobikiwik has also taken care of security issues. The company will provide the name and photograph of the agent responsible for the pickup on the app itself. It is also mandatory for MobiKwik agents to be dressed in uniform, which will further help in identification.
The Mobikwik’s agents are in house employees hired by the company itself and will be reach users doorstep in real time.
The company recently closed a $25 Mn in a Series B round from Sequoia Capital, American Express, Cisco Investments and Tree Line Asia. It further plans to raise another $80 – $100 million soon. MobiKwik is disrupting the payments space further in 2015 by creating an offline retail network of more than 100,000 merchants, which will serve both as points for cash loading into the wallet and for wallet payments acceptance. The company also applied for a Payments Bank license in February this year.
Quick Facts:
# More than 10 mn Android app downloads
# More than 17 million users
# Around 50,000 retailers
# Raised close to $30 Mn in funding till now
Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.