Twid, a payments platform that allows its users to pool and redeem rewards from the programmes they have subscribed to, on Wednesday said it has secured $12 million (around Rs 90 crore) in a Series A funding round led by Rakuten Capital.
The fundraise also saw participation from a host of new investors including Google, ICMG Partners, JAFCO Asia, January Capital and Reddy Futures Fund, with Beenext and Sequoia India's Surge as the existing ones.
The Bengaluru-based startup plans to deploy the fresh proceeds for scaling and building its merchant and issuer network, expanding product roll outs, building tech capabilities and hiring.
Founded by Amit Koshal, Rishi Batra and Amit Sharma in 2020, Twid allows users to club their rewards points, which can be used as a payment for expenses made through its service. It also analyses customer behaviour and spending patterns for providing predictive solutions to its customers.
“We are bringing together various industry stakeholders nudging them towards a cashless ecosystem and future. By enabling reward points to be ubiquitous and fungible, we are witnessing very high customer delight. Customers can stay updated with their points and are able to save, earn and pay every time when using pay with rewards. This reaffirms our approach to delivering long term value to merchants, issuers and customers,” said Amit Koshal, founder and CEO, Twid.
“Rakuten Capital sees tremendous potential and future synergies in this investment. Given our global membership products are developed here in Bengaluru by Rakuten India,” said Sunil Gopinath, CEO of Rakuten India.
In July last, Twid raised $2.5 million in funding led by Beenext and Sequoia India's Surge.
Rakuten Capital is the corporate venture arm of Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten. The venture fund focuses on investments across multiple industries and geographies that have "strategic significance" for Rakuten.
The payment solutions space in India have been garnering investors’ attention for quite some time now.
In June, Bengaluru-based cross-border payments startup PayGlocal raised Series B funding of $12 million co-led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India.
In January, Payment solutions provider Pine Labs Pvt Ltd, which is headed for a US listing, has raised an additional $20 million in new investment from the State Bank of India.