MobiKwik - Online Recharge and Bill Payment made Easy!

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Digital transactions and the usage of mobile wallets are now a reality. Easy, hassle-free payments without having to hunt for change every time you purchase something are some major benefits of using a mobile wallet. While many international players are providing mobile wallet services in India today, MobiKwik is one of the pioneer Indian mobile wallet companies, which despite the raging competition of the sector, has carved a niche for itself.

Founded by the husband-wife duo, couple Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, MobiKwik has a unicorn valuation and is looking to go public anytime soon.

This article is all about the journey and functioning of this successful Indian startup - MobiKwik, which was started with the sole goal of making payments easy and fun for every Indian. Know more about MobiKwik, its Latest News, Founders and Team, Startup Story, Business and revenue model, Funding and investors, Partnerships, Growth and revenue, Awards, Competition, and more.

MobiKwik - Company Highlights

MobiKwik - About and How it Works?
MobiKwik - Founders and Team
MobiKwik - Startup Story
MobiKwik - Mission and Vision
MobiKwik - Name, Tagline and Logo
MobiKwik - Business Model and Revenue Model
MobiKwik - Funding and Investors
MobiKwik - Growth and Revenue
MobiKwik - Products and Features
MobiKwik - Challenges and Controversies
MobiKwik - Partnership and Tie-ups
MobiKwik - Acquisitions
MobiKwik - IPO
MobiKwik - Awards
MobiKwik - Competitors

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MobiKwik - About and How it Works?

To make personal wallets redundant, MobiKwik is one of the largest mobile wallets in India. It allows Indian consumers to store money in a virtual wallet and then to use it across channels (mobile, desktop, tab, SMS, IVR) to pay utility bills and shop all they want.

For example, as a user, you could use it to recharge your mobile via its Android/iOS/BB/Windows App, or use it to buy bus tickets on any popular bus booking website or order and pay for pizza on the phone. It is a prepaid financial instrument approved by the Reserve Bank of India.

MobiKwik was founded by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku in 2009. The Gurugram-based digital wallet claims to have over 107 million users, 3 million merchants, and 200+ billers on its platform.

MobiKwik is super-safe. Every penny stored in your wallet is well accounted for. You can also use the extra in-app security settings available on all mobile platforms it is operational on. These are Android, Windows, and iOS. All services of the app are also available via a desktop site and a mobile site. Besides, its simple UI is designed to give users a smooth experience.

MobiKwik ventured out into the offline space and activated mobile payments for brick-and-mortar stores such as Big Bazaar and Domino’s Pizza and many more. It received the coveted Prepaid Payment Instrument license from the Reserve Bank of India on 18 July 2013. The company has also received in-principle approval from the RBI to set up a Bharat Bill Payments Operating Unit (BBPOU), thereby enabling users from across all parts of India, urban and rural, to pay their utility and convenience bills through the MobiKwik wallet.

The initial service provided by the startup was a website with a closed wallet facility, but over the years, MobiKwik extended its service to mobile apps. Today it has transformed itself into a full-stack fintech company. One can do bank transfers, and can also take loans. The company has tie-ups with NBFCs like Bajaj Finance, Aditya Birla, and DMI Finance.

As for loans, it has many options like an instant 3-minute loan, a credit line, and a term loan. It has also tied up with ICICI Lombard for accidental insurance, and also offers several other insurance products like Online fraud protection, dengue insurance, hospital cash, etc., to name a few.

India's payments market is fragmented with some 60 odd banks for internet banking, multiple levels of authentication on debit and credit cards, and a generally complicated electronic payment experience for the consumer. Mobikwik wallet payment options simplify all that with a 1-click Payment flow on your phone, tablet, or computer which works the same way every time.

As a user, you just need to trust it with your money and then you can shop on any merchant without disclosing your bank or card details. Here, you can be prepared to get exclusive discounts and offers every time you shop using the wallet. One can also earn money through the app by referring a friend on the platform. With the company venturing into new verticals and having acquired a huge user base, MobiKwik is surely here to stay. The company too has exciting plans for the future.

MobiKwik - Founders and Team

Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku are the founders of MobiKwik.

Bipin Preet Singh

The Founder and CEO at MobiKwik, Bipin Preet Singh has worn several hats – from writing Java code to Customer Support and Marketing. He graduated from IIT Delhi in 2002 with a BTech degree in Electrical Engineering. After graduation, he worked at Intel, Nvidia, and Freescale Semiconductors for 7 years before starting up with his own company. He has dabbled in advertising as a Partner with Star Auto and in civic advocacy as a volunteer with Janagraaha.

Upasana Taku

Upasana Taku is known as the co-founder of MobiKwik. Taku is an alumnus of NIT Jalandhar, from where she completed her Btech in Industrial Engineering before pursuing an MS, Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. Currently serving as the Co-founder and COO of MobiKwik and the Co-founder of Zaakpay, Upasana started with HSBC, where she worked as a Business Analyst and eventually moved to the position of Senior Product Manager at Paypal. Taku was then a Consultant at Multiple Companies before she managed to materialize her entrepreneurial dreams.

Bipin comes with a strong payment background as a senior product manager with PayPal (an eBay company) in Silicon Valley and before that with HSBC at San Diego. She graduated with a Bachelor's in Engineering from NIT Jalandhar and a Master's in Management Science from Stanford University. The company had appointed Bikram Bir Singh as the Business Head of Mobikwik at the end of October 2018. However, Singh left the company in August 2019.

Chandan Joshi

Staying for over 2 years in the batch of key leadership executives of MobiKwik, Chandan Joshi has been elevated to the rank of Co-founder of the company in September 2020. Joshi began as an Associate Trader at Credit Suisse. He then founded Packetts, where he also served as the CEO for around a year when he exited the company by selling it to Nuvo Logistics. Joshi continued to stay with Nuvo as the Business Head - Logistics for a year after which it was again acquired by Shadowfax. Joshi eventually joined MobiKwik as the Business Head - VP, Online and Offline Merchants and he is currently serving the same company as the Co-founder and CEO, Payments.

Mobikwik had appointed Daman Soni as the VP for Marketing and User Growth of Digital payments in October 2018. Soni joined Mobikwik in December 2016, and quit the company on June 11, 2018, thereby joining the line of other resignees including Vineet Singh, Rukaiya Rangwala, Vivek Sinha, and others, who had quit Mobikwik.

MobiKwik has a team of 800 plus employees and 127 million registered users.

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MobiKwik - Mission and Vision

The mission of MobiKwik is "to build a world-class payments and credit product for Bharat!"

The company was started in 2009 with a vision of "transforming the digital payments landscape in India."

MobiKwik - Name, Tagline and Logo

MobiKwik is a mobile-based digital payments platform that offers users effective digital wallets as a promising alternative to the physical wallets that they carry.

MobiKwik's new tagline says 'Discover MobiKwik Wallet - The easiest way to pay!

MobiKwik - Startup Story

Singh started MobiKwik in 2009 when he was tired of his easy-going corporate job and was looking to do something new in life. He wanted to create a simple payment platform for prepaid mobile users to recharge their currency. Since recharge is a small ticket-size transaction, he created a digital wallet where users could keep the money and recharge whenever they wanted.

He seeded the company with $250 thousand of his own money, developed the website and payment options, and rented office space in Dwarka, Delhi. The initial service was a website with a closed wallet facility, but over the years, MobiKwik extended its service to mobile apps. The company launched its android app in 2012.

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MobiKwik - Business Model and Revenue Model

Much like the business models of any other mobile wallet-based digital payments company, MobiKwik is modelled upon the P2P transactions that take place with the help of its app.

The revenue of Mobikwik comes from the commissions on each transaction that takes place, via partnering with companies and through the advertisements that they consider fit for their app. Furthermore, MobiKwik also gains fee-based incomes by cross-selling insurance and mutual fund products.

The distribution of digital credit products presently accounts for 50% of MobiKwik's revenue, with the remaining 50% coming from its payment services.

MobiKwik - Funding and Investors

MobiKwik has raised a total of ~ $213.94M in funding. The company raised debt funding worth $35 mn on August 4, 2022, from Blacksoil Capital to gear up for IPO. This debt fund came in after 12+ months since MobiKwik filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI. As per the regulatory filing of MobiKwik, this fund was raised after the company allotted 700 non-convertible debentures (NCD) at an issue price of Rs 5,00,000. MobiKwik was last reported to be looking to raise close to $100 mn.

MobiKwik was declared a unicorn on October 12, 2021, after the end of the sale of the secondary ESOP round led by Mathew Cyriac, former head of Blackstone India.

Here is a list of all the funding rounds of MobiKwik:

MobiKwik - Growth and Revenue

On June 10, 2019, MobiKwik reported 5 times year-on-year growth to Rs 362 crore in the gross transaction value of the IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) fund transfer business. With 6.7 lakh transactions during May 2019, it targeted Rs 10,000 crore worth of transfers, till the end of FY 2020. However, as per the latest last reports, Mobikwik has been successful in clocking Rs 362 crore worth of total funds transferred from its wallet to the bank. As per the National Payments Corporation of India, MobiKwik has a 26% share of the entire IMPS transfer market in India.

In FY19, MobiKwik's revenue stood at Rs 184.6 crore, which grew by more than 2X from Rs 69.6 crore of revenue, which the company managed to record in FY18. MobiKwik's merchant-facing Payment Gateway Business (via its subsidiary Zaakpay) registered net revenue of Rs 190 crore in FY20, compared to Rs 101 crore in FY19 on a standalone basis. The company expects to double its revenues this fiscal, as per reports dated January 23, 2022.

In FY20, the total revenue of MobiKwik surged 134% to Rs 369 crore. In FY20, consumer payments accounted for 63% of the net revenue, Fintech for 25%, and Payment Gateway for 12% of total net revenue.

MobiKwik has registered its total revenues at Rs 302 crore in FY21. The company's EBITDA losses increased to Rs 78.54 crore from Rs 57.9 crore during FY21. The revenue from the operations of Mobikwik plummeted from Rs 355.6 crore to Rs 288.5 crore much like its total revenues, which lead to a jump in its losses from Rs 99.1 crore to Rs 110.9 crore during the same fiscal.

Mobikwik had narrowed its losses in the previous fiscal, which is why Upasana claimed that her company was cutting the losses each year followed by a doubling of the revenue. It had done this for the last 4 years but Fy21 turned to be an exception.

MobiKwik was eyeing the launching of its IPO by September 2021, as revealed by co-founder Upasana Taku in June 2021. However, the IPO has been postponed following the dismal IPO of Paytm and will most likely take place in the initial half of 2022.

MobiKwik filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus for its IPO on July 13, 2021. This had changed the holding of the entity, originally a private limited to a public company, which had changed its name to One Mobikwik Systems Limited.

With this, the company declared that for its IPO the company would be inviting bids worth Rs 1900 crores for equity shares. MobiKwik issued its equity shares afresh that aggregates up to Rs 1,500 crores, which will be added to the other shares that belong to 7 existing shareholders of the company, amounting to Rs 400 crores.

Mobikwik announced that it would be issuing and allotting 156,17,940 equity shares, which will be live for 67 equity shareholders. The co-founders of the company, Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku are deemed to be the largest beneficiaries of this bonus issue. They have been allotted 87,30,930 and 61,80,900 fully paid equity shares respectively.

MobiKwik Financials

MobiKwik FY23 revenue increased 68% year over year to INR 177 crore.

The net profit increased to Rs 3 crore and EBITDA to Rs 13.6 crore during Q1 FY24.

MobiKwik Expenses

MobiKwik expenses for FY21–FY22 are as follows:

Coming to company EBITDA margin, below are the figures for FY21 to FY22:

MobiKwik - Products and Features

MobiKwik has launched many products and features. Some of these are:

MobiKwik - Challenges and Controversies

Being the biggest data leak in Indian history, independent cybersecurity researchers have found that the personal data of over 10 crore customers of MobiKwik is available for sale on the dark web. However, MobiKwik is denying the alleged data leak and is intended to get a third party to conduct a forensic data security audit to provide clarity on the matter.

As per the news dated 28th May 2020, the UPI payment and wallet platform MobiKwik was taken down from Play Store for violating Google's ad policies. The app was restored a few hours after the contentious ad was removed. MobiKwik owner and CEO Bipin Preet Singh said in a tweet that it was done because the app had an ad linking to the Aarogya Setu app.

Mobikwik had the ad as they were asked to by the regulator Reserve Bank of India and also as it’s in public health interest, Singh said.

Singh said that a week ago Google had warned them for promoting Aarogya Setu app on its platform and termed it as deceptive. However, when they contacted Google, they said it was a mistake.

MobiKwik - Partnership and Tie-ups

The company partnered with Uber India in July 2015, which enabled Uber and its drivers to utilize MobiKwik to process debit and credit card payments.

On November 8, 2017, IDFC Bank entered into a strategic partnership with digital payments solution company to launch a co-branded virtual Visa prepaid card for the customers.

In June 2019, MobiKwik announced a partnership with DT One. DT One is a global B2B network for mobile top-ups/recharge, rewards, and airtime credit services. This partnership will enable the startup to offer mobile recharge in 150+ countries across more than 550 mobile operators.

There are many brands associated with MobiKwik. Some of them are:

• BookMyShow
• Café Coffee Day
• Sagar Ratna
• Pizza Hut
• TastyKhana
• JustEat
• PVR
• eBay
• Myntra
• Snapdeal
• Shopclues
• HomeShop18
• Naaptol
• Pepperfry
• Fashionara
• FashionAndYou
• MakeMyTrip
• Ferns N Petals
• Amex

The company initially partnered with online merchants to make their wallets available as a payment option on e-commerce sites. Slowly, TV recharge and other utility bill payments were added.

MobiKwik partnered with Cashfree Payments in August 2023 and launched the "Zip Pay Later" feature.

MobiKwik partnered with BPCL in October 2022. With this partnership, BPCL launched digital payment for gas refilling of LPG cylinders.

MobiKwik - Acquisitions

MobiKwik has acquired one company to date. This maiden acquisition of MobiKwik was made on October 12, 2018, when the company acquired Clearfunds, a Mumbai-based online discount mutual funds robo advisor.

MobiKwik - Competitors

MobiKwik’s main competitors are:

• Paytm
• Freecharge
• Google Pay (earlier Tez)
• PhonePe
• eRecharge Bytes
• Recharge My
• Justdial Recharge

On the wallet front, it rubs shoulders with Paytm, which has over 60 million wallet users. However, it has a strong focus on the wallet, while Alipay-backed Paytm is following a horizontal approach and has forayed into the B2C marketplace.

MobiKwik - IPO

MobiKwik had reported going public before Diwali. Mobikwik had earlier planned to go for IPO (Initial Public Offering) by September 2021. It was also reportedly planning to raise $200Mn-$250Mn at a valuation of $1Bn in this initial offer. The company had already managed to get approval for the same from SEBI. The upcoming IPO of MobiKwik will certainly be interesting. Though the company is still not declared a market leader or hailed as a giant unicorn, like Zomato or Paytm, the draft documents of the business mentions that the rapid growth of the digital payments and payment platforms, online shopping, and internet usage, marks it as a deserving IPO nominee.

The company had already listed its draft documents back on July 12, 2021, and has mentioned that it would be raising around Rs 1,900 crores in its upcoming public offering. Furthermore, it has announced that the offer will comprise of fresh issue of equity shares up to Rs 1,500 crores in addition to an offer for sale for certain existing shareholders up to Rs 400 crores. The offer of sale (OFS) of the company will further include the sale of shares valued at nearly Rs 9.9 crores by American Express, shares worth Rs 68.9 crores from Bajaj Finance, Rs 11 crores from Cisco Systems, Rs 94 crores by Sequoia, Rs 24 crores by Treeline Asia, Rs 111 crores from Bipin Preet Singh and around Rs 78 crores from Upasana Taku, the founders of the company. However, the fintech unicorn has not gone ahead still with its IPO, especially after the dismal Paytm IPO, and has seen a dip in its unlisted share prices throughout the past couple of weeks, as of December 2, 2021.

The company raised its pre-IPO round on December 30, 2021, from Bennett Coleman and said that it will be going public in 2022. The company expects to double its revenue by the end of this fiscal, indicating a 100% growth for the company. Furthermore, while referring to the upcoming IPO round of Mobikwik, the Co-founder and COO of the company, Upasana Taku mentioned that they will not be looking for an IPO soon and instead wait for the market to stabilize, as stated on January 23, 2022.

Upasana Thaku, the chairperson of MobiKwik, stated that they intend to file for an IPO in 12 to 18 months. In November 2022, the IPO became inactive. They have been given permission to raise Rs 1900 crore, which would be split between a new issue of Rs 1,500 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 400 crore.

For the IPO, Mobikwik is collaborating with SBI Capital Markets Ltd. and DAM Capital Advisors Ltd., as per the news report of November 29, 2023. The financial unicorn hopes to list next year and raise $84 million (about Rs 700 crore) through the IPO.

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MobiKwik - Awards

Some major awards MobiKwik won to date are:

• MobiKwik won e4mPrideOfIndiaBrands Award in 2023.
• MobiKwik won Excellence in Consumer Lending Award in 2022.
• The company won the ET Iconic Brand of the Year Award in 2018
• MobiKwik also won the Amity Leadership Award in 2018.
• MobiKwik was also the recipient of the ‘AWS Mobility Award’ for the best mobile app in Financial Services
• Moneytech’17 Awards declared Upasana Taku as the winner of The Female Entrepreneur of the Year.
• Bipin and Upasana, the founder duo of MobiKwik was also listed in the Fortune 40 under 40 Awards 2016
• In 2014, MobiKwik won the Billionth Award South Asia in the category of Mobile Business, for socially valuable contributions to South Asia's digital infrastructure

FAQs

What is MobiKwik?

MobiKwik is one of the largest mobile wallets in India. It allows Indian consumers to store money in a virtual wallet and then to use it across channels (mobile, desktop, tab, SMS, IVR) to pay utility bills and shop using a wallet with registered merchants.

What is the MobiKwik origin country?

MobiKwik is an Indian company founded in 2009 that provides a mobile phone-based payment system and digital wallet.

Who is the MobiKwik owner?

MobiKwik was founded in 2009 by husband and wife team Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku. Bipin Preet Singh is the Mobikwik CEO.

What is the MobiKwik official website?

MobiKwik official website is mobikwik.com

How much is MobiKwik's Valuation?

MobiKwik's valuation is estimated at over $1 billion.

Who are the competitors of MobiKwik?

MobiKwik’s competitors are Paytm, Freecharge, Google Pay (earlier Tez), and PhonePe.

Who is Mobikwik marketing head?

Monika Mishra is known as the Mobikwik Marketing Head, who works as the Senior marketing head of the company.

What is the Mobikwik headquarters location?

Mobikwik headquarters' location is Gurugram, Haryana.

How to change MobiKwik mobile number?

If you want to change the MobiKwik mobile number, then you need not worry because following the below-mentioned steps will help you do it without many hassles:

• First, you need to open your MobiKwik wallet and log into your account.
• Next, you need to swipe left, and then open Menu/Options bar. Here, you will be able to see the “My Saved Connections” option. You need to tap and open the same section.
• Under the Saved Connections sections, you will be able to see your Primary Number. You need to simply tap on the same to change it.
• Then, you need to go to the three dots that you can find on the top screen in the right. Here, you can find the option that says “Edit Primary Number”. After you get the same, just tap on it.
• Now, you need to enter your new mobile number, along with your operator details, circle, and finally type the 10-digit phone number and tap on it to save it.
• Finally, you will get an OTP on the new mobile number that you have typed in.
• You need to simply enter the OTP, and tap on Verify OTP.
• After you have successfully changed your mobile number, you will get a confirmation on your old number.

How to close MobiKwik account?

To close MobiKwik account, you need to just perform some easy steps. Here are the steps that you need to perform if you are wondering how you can close MobiKwik account:

• First, you need to fill a support ticket.
• Then, you have to raise a request to remove the MobiKwik account. Here, you need to write a simple message clearly to establish the reason why you want to delete your MobiKwik account.
• After filling up the reason, you need to click on the Submit tab.
• Finally, you have to wait for the confirmation of the deletion of your MobiKwik account.