As per the report, India’s two leading e-wallet company MobiKwik & Freecharge looking to merge in an all-stock deal. According to speculation, behind this deal a chinese investor who is willing to pump Rs USD 200 million into this deal.
The talks between Freecharge and MobiKwik are on their initial stages. Sequoia Capital is the major investor in both startups.
Jason Kothari, the CEO of Freecharge is in talks with various investors in the US and China. PayPal had earlier shown interest in investing into Freecharge, but the deal did not materialise. PayU, Flipkart and Paytm is rumoured to be interested in FreeCharge.
Freecharge is a part of online shopping platform Snapdeal, which has also been in merger talks with e-tailer Flipkart.
MobiKwik, which has opened 13 new offices in the country and has added over 1,000 employees to its workforce, has also been looking to raise over Rs 1,000 crore and is in advanced talks with many banks and mutual funds. This round of funding should be initiated by the end of April or early May.
While individually, the two would be valued at USD 300 million each, together, the new entity could be value at around USD 700 million-USD 1 billion.