Mobikwik seeks to raise $100 million after deferring planned IPO

Signage for digital payment service MobiKwik, operated by One MobiKwik Systems Pvt., is displayed at a Bharat Petroleum Corp. fuel station in Bengaluru, India, on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. A relative laggard in digital transactions, India has more recently seen 50 percent year-on-year growth, according to a study by Google and Boston Consulting Group. The pace may accelerate with demonetization giving digital wallets like Paytm, MobiKwik and Freecharge an extra push. Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

One Mobikwik Systems Ltd. is in talks with investors to raise as much as $100 million in equity to finance business expansion after it deferred an initial public offering, a founder of the company said.

The Gurugram-based fintech firm, which turned profitable for the first time in the quarter ending Dec. 31, will use the funds for marketing, to hire people and make acquisitions, co-founder Upasana Taku said in an interview in Mumbai. The company is still planning to go ahead with the IPO at an opportune time, she said.

The business deferred the IPO slated for last year following a rout in the shares of larger rival Paytm, which went public in November. Unlisted shares of Mobikwik had taken the brunt of the meltdown in the tech space, according to data from investment platforms that allow trading in private companies.

Counting American Express Co. and Sequoia Capital among its backers, the company is one of the largest players offering buy now, pay later services in India. It has more than 100 million registered users and is seeking to scale up the business rapidly. While Mobikwik was valued at about $700 million last year when it raised funds from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, no decision has been taken on the valuation for the current funding round, Taku said.