FreeCharge Raises $80 Million in New Funds

Mobile transactions platform FreeCharge on Friday said it has raised $80 million (about Rs. 494 crores) from Valiant Capital Management, Tybourne Capital Management as well as the already invested firms.

The Series-C funding will bring new investors Valiant Capital Management and Tybourne Capital Management on board, FreeCharge said in a statement.

The round also saw participation from existing investors in the company, Sequoia Capital, RuNet and Sofina, it added.

FreeCharge is a mobile commerce platform where users can pay their mobile, DTH and utility payments across most major operators.

It also has exclusive tie-ups as online promotions partner with consumer brands like McDonalds and Baskin Robbins.

"We have been ahead of the curve and as a result, 85 percent of our transactions originate from mobile accompanied with very high customer loyalty. By virtue of the number of app transactions we drive, we are one of the biggest m-commerce players already," FreeCharge CEO Alok Goel said.

This round of funding will be primarily used for product innovations on mobile, team expansion and building FreeCharge as a household brand, he added.

The company claimed that mobile transactions on Freecharge app have grown around 60x in the last one year driven through 10 million app downloads.

"This round of funding is a great validation of FreeCharge as a novel idea which can be scaled up to create a new category of itself. This has been made evident already with our existing customer base of more than 20 million," FreeCharge co-founder Kunal Shah said.