M2P Fintech, a payments infrastructure startup that has established market dominance in India, has raised $56 million in a new round of funding less than three months after closing its previous funding as it works to deepen its presence in multiple geographies. international.
Insight Partners, a New York-based private equity and venture capital firm, led the Bengaluru-based startup’s Series C funding round. MUFG Innovation Partners, part of the Japanese bank, and existing investors Tiger Global and Better Capital also participated in the ongoing round.
The new round, which moves M2PThe all-time increase to $107 million saw the startup nearly double its valuation to around $605 million in just three months.
M2P Fintech, founded by two Visa alumni, has two main offerings. It helps banks and other financial institutions that have regulatory licenses but need help with technology to launch banking services.
“We also help them update their technology stack. There is a movement afoot as banks are transitioning from a capex-heavy product implementation model to an opex, SaaS type of model,” said Madhusudanan R, co-founder and chief executive of M2P Fintech, in an interview with Ploonge. .
Dozens of tier 1 banks, as well as rapidly emerging fintech-friendly banks, are customers of M2P Fintech, which is helping them power their next-gen services, he said.
The startup’s second standout offering is providing the payments layer for hundreds of fintech startups with card offerings (such as Slice and Open) to manage their entire cash flow. For example, if a fintech wants to launch a new offering, it might want to work with half a dozen banks. This will require building your own pipelines to access the banks’ APIs. Instead, they can work with M2P Fintech, which already owns the railroads.
Madhusudanan R (left), Prabhu R and Muthukumar A co-founded M2P Fintech in 2014. (Image credits: M2P Fintech)
“M2P is India’s leading fintech infrastructure as a service company – they bring together the broadest set of banking and fintech relationships on the market and have built powerful products delivered as an API with a strong commitment to customer delight,” said Nikhil. Sachdev, Managing Director of Insight Partners, in a statement.
“M2P’s stellar founding team and rapid growth have established the company as a clear market leader that is transforming financial innovation in the region. We are excited to partner with Madhu and the team as they continue to grow.”
The startup, which largely began its growth for nearly five years, now operates in nearly two dozen markets in Asia and North Africa. Madhusudanan said the startup plans to expand its presence in these markets, expand into some new ones and port many of the features of popular products in India.
“On a very micro level, a lot of fintech actions that are happening in India are being replicated in other markets,” he said.
It is also eyeing some acquisition opportunities to drive inorganic growth in adjacent categories. The startup, which last year acquired two startups, is currently eyeing half a dozen more, he said.
M2P Fintech is in a unique position these days. It faces little to no competition and is a direct beneficiary of the increasingly fierce battle between fintech startups as most of them are its customers. There are companies with similar M2P offerings, such as Marqeta, which went public last year and quickly took on a market cap of more than $16 billion in the US. nations.
Madhusudanan said he expects more players to emerge in India and Asia in the coming years. “I think there is room for three to four billion dollar companies in the space,” he said.