india based dotpe which helps businesses get online raised a 58m series b led by temasek and says it will introduce digital lending to merchants priyanka iyer moneycontrol
Gurgaon-based DotPe the offline-to-online trading platform for business has raised $58m through its series B funding round, led by Temasek the company announced on 19 September.
The round also had the participation of existing investors PayU, the fintech and payment division of Prosus as well as InfoEdge Ventures, in addition to the new investor Mitsubishi as well as Naya Capital.
“We are building a full ecosystem for offline merchants to get digitised. We are targeting to grow our merchant base from 7.5 million currently to 20 million in the next two to three years,” CEO Shailaz Nag who is also the founder of PayU said to Moneycontrol following the round of funding.
In 2020, DotPe was founded with the help of Nag as well as ex- PayU management Gyanesh Sharma as well as Anurag Gupta. DotPe offers a complete solution to help businesses digitize their online presence. This includes orders (in-store as well as remote) as well as online payments and online marketing, all the way to delivery.
Nag announced that the company would also launch new financial services products, including business-to-business (B2B) Neobanking solutions that allow merchants to borrow.
At present, B2B and consumer Neobanking platforms like Jupiter, Fi, Niyo, Freo, RazorpayX, Open etc. are not controlled through authorities like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
These platforms offer the customers with an interface to access banking services, such as debit cards, savings accounts as well as balance checks. They also have an institution that provides the services.
Digital lending On the other hand is being regulated by the RBI in a formal announcement in September 2.
“For neobanking, we will not take any steps until the RBI issues guidelines formally,” Nag stated.
DotPe’s merchants for food and beverages include national, local and international brands, including McDonald’s, 24 Seven and Taco Bell. The company claimed that its customer base has grown by more than three times since 2020.
The company’s revenues were increasing by more than 150 percent year over year, and this growth is predicted to keep growing, Nag said.
DotPe’s fundraiser is coming at a time that startups everywhere face more difficult questions from investors about profitability and unit economics since investors shifted their focus due to a slump on tech stock. However, this hasn’t prevented Indian tech companies from raising huge rounds of capital where investors are gung-ho about their business models.
“We have been associated with DotPe since its inception and believe in its potential to fundamentally transform daily operations for businesses in India. There are synergies between PayU’s vision for a holistic Indian merchant ecosystem and DotPe’s phenomenal work in digitising this space,” Vijay Agicha, Global Director of Strategy and Growth at PayU In a statement, PayU said there.
DotPe has raised $27.5 millions during its Series A funding round the month of March 2021. The round was led by PayU, InfoEdge Ventures and Google.
