Paytm, Mobikwik leads 72% rise in Series B funding for mobile payment segment

It has been the best year so far for the mobile payment sector in terms of funding. While the global funding scenario for start-ups has been gloomy, the mobile payment segment saw a 72% year-on-year rise in average investment ticket size at the Series B stage.  

A total of $584 million was secured in 73 rounds in funding year to date, according to a recent Tracxn report. A total of $2.2 billion was secured in 138 rounds in total funding from various funding stages.

The average ticket size of Series B funding increased from $9.9 million in 2015 to almost double the amount $17.1 million in 2016.

Source: Tracxn

The mobile payment start-ups to gain the most were two companies Paytm and Mobikwik received the most investment with $105 million and $90 million respectively during the year. Other recent notable investments reported in this space include Germany-based AEVI International ($34 million), Boston-based Toast Inc ($30 million) and InAuth ($30 million).

However, the average investment ticket size at the seed and Series A saw a decline this year. The average ticket size for investment in Series A declined from $7.5 million in 2015 to $6.2 million in 2016. While Seed funding ticket size declined to $1.1 million last year to $700,000 in 2016.  

There was also significant consolidation activity witnessed in this sector, with eight acquisitions reported in this sector alone, said the report.

The segment witnessed eight acquisitions globally so far. This is barring the acquisition of Rotterdam-based Bell ID by Rambus for $92 million, said the report.

Wallet (Paytm, Mozido), mPoS (Square, Lakala) and technology solutions providers (Validity, Privaris) emerged as the top three business models by funding, said the Tracxn report. In the top two business models by funding, the US, India and the UK were the top three market leaders by company formation in this sector.

The report further said that business verticals such as in-app payment, P2P money transfer, NFC, white label, security and carrier billing are some of the largest upcoming business verticals within the sector.

The top investors in this start-up segment this year included Sequoia Capital, NEA, 500 Startups, Index Ventures and Accel Partners.