A majority stake in UAE-based payment solution provider PSP Telr has been acquired by CashFree, backed by India's largest lender State Bank of India. CashFree invested $15 million to become the largest shareholder with this investment. Akash Sinha, co-founder and CEO of CashFree, told BusinessToday that the company is in talks with various fintech firms for acquisition purposes. In an exclusive interaction, He said that the startup will leverage this acquisition to grow seamless merchant-led cross-border payments and expand to middle-east markets where online payments still constitute 2 per cent of the total transactions. Sinha said that the company is actively looking to expand to South-East Asia in the merchant payments space. Pinelabs is also a key player in these markets, along with Cashfree.
Telr has a strong presence and payment infrastructure that will allow the company to launch its distinctive offerings in the MENA region. Cashfree and Telr hope to create a unified cross-border payments platform that would help Indian merchants accept payments from customers in the MENA region and vice-versa via a single integration, the company said in an official handout. Telr grants access to all payment methods including American Express, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay, Apple Pay, PayPal, SADAD, Mada and STCPay through a single integration.
Telr Buy Now Pay Later BNPL, in collaboration with Tabby, Telr Finance, and Telr Shops, is a complete solution for the ecommerce world, covering a wide range of services, including social commerce, QR codes, digital invoicing, Telr Buy Now Pay Later BNPL in collaboration with LNNDO, a merchant financing program and Telr Shops, have been extended by Telr Extensions to cover a wide range of business services, including social commerce, QR Codes, digital invoicing
Sinha said that the product suite offered by CashFree has allowed it to onboard over 1.3 lakh merchants, despite the strong competition in the fintech space in India. Since July 2020, the company has had 70,000 merchants on board, generating 95 per cent growth.