Bengaluru based payment startup Razorpay announced on Tuesday that it has received strategic investment from American enterprise giant Salesforce. Both companies have refused to divulge the financial details of the deal. Since past few weeks rumors were abound that the Bengaluru based Fintech unicorn was in talks with several marquee and existing investors for raising $250 Mn at an estimated valuation of $4.5 bn. However, these speculative reports did not feature Salesforce as its prospective investor.
This deal is Salesforce’s second investment in India. Earlier this year, the SaaS giant had led a $15 Mn investment in HR tech platform DrawinBox. This deal also marks Razorpay’s second fund raise in the ongoing year, having raised funds in April at a valuation of $3 Bn. Following this investment, Razorpay gets to court another high-profile investor. It counts big names like Sequoia Capital, GIC, Matrix Partner, Ribbit Capital and Tiger Global among its marquee investors.
Razorpay is essentially India’s answer to America’s fintech giant Stripe, which is currently valued at an eye-popping valuation of $95 Bn. It offers comprehensive payment solutions to small and medium size companies. However, over the years the six year old firm’s product offerings have gone beyond payment solutions. It has forayed into neo banking and also offers business loans to SMBs.
Razorpay is most likely to raise more funds in the coming weeks as we’ve already mentioned about speculative reports hinting at its investment talks with marquee investors. The pressure to raise big ticket funds on the Bengaluru based fintech is quite evident in the aftermath of the recent Payu-BillDesk deal. This deal has put Razorpay’s competitor PayU in a dominant position the retail payment industry. Post this deal, PayU is expected to handle total payment volume (TPV) of US$147 bill.