The popular US-based payments processor Visa is acquiring a minority stake in Mumbai-based BillDesk. This acquisition will make BillDesk the newcomer in India’s Unicorn club of private technology companies valued at over $1 billion.
The financial details of the deal were not disclosed, however, it is expected to value the 18-year-old company at $1.8 billion.
The transaction involves a primary investment of about $200 million with a secondary purchase of shares from existing investors and founders of $80-100 million matter. This could take the total investment to about $300 million.
Visa’s investment in help BillDesk develop new product lines for its payment and loyalty businesses and expand its footprint into other geographies, according to a statement from Visa. The investment will be subject to statutory approvals and is expected to have no direct bearing on Visa’s existing Indian business.
“We now look forward to building new products and solutions that benefit merchants as well as consumers,” Srinivasu, co-founder of BillDesk stated.
This would mark as Visa’s first investment for a minority stake in India. Globally, Visa has invested in payment companies Klarna, Square and Stripe. The investment comes when Visa and MasterCard face stiff competition in India from the growth of RuPay cards and the Unified Payment Interface (UPI).
Founded in 2000 by Srinivasu, Ajay Kaushal and Karthik Ganapathy, BillDesk became a fad and mobile wallets offered these services luring consumers with cashbacks. The company claims to process over $60 billion in payments annually.