Indian fintech Cashfree Payments puts in $15m into Dubai's Telr platform

1.2126819-2173557911 — With the Telr investment, Cashfree Payments looks to expand beyond its India base and widen its cross-border payment reach. Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: The UAE and Gulf fintech space keeps getting the million-dollar deals – India’s Cashfree Payments is putting in $15 million into Telr, the payment service platform.

Cashfree and Telr aim to develop 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 UAE-based Telr’s platform can help handle payments in over 120 currencies and with high levels of security. Through a single integration, Telr grants access to payment processes from the likes of Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay, Apple Pay, PayPal, SADAD, Mada and STCPay.

It has also been making its mark in ecommerce transactions, through digital invoicing, a ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ collaboration with tabby, a merchant financing programme in alliance with LNNDO, and Telr Shops the easy-to-use tool for creating an online store in minutes. Established in 2014, Telr offers payment gateway solutions for SMEs, government bodies and large corporates.

"Our offerings and partnerships aim to assist in reaching an integrated e-commerce ecosystem supporting the UAE in its transition into a cashless economy and contributing to the Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030," said Khalil Alami, CEO and founder, Telr.

Cashfree was founded by IIT Hyderabad alumnus Akash Sinha and IIT Kharagpur graduate Reeju Datta.

Cashfree's cross-border reach

Recently, India’s powerhouse bank SBI invested in Cashfree. The latter works with all leading banks to build the core payments and banking infrastructure that powers the company’s products. It is also integrated with major platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Paypal, Amazon Pay, Paytm and Google Pay.

Apart from India, Cashfree products are used in eight other countries, including the US, Canada and the UAE.

On landing the Telr deal, Akash Sinha, CEO and co-founder of Cashfree Payments, said: “We are grateful to our key institutional investor Apis for helping us source and execute this strategic investment. We look forward to nurturing our partnership with Telr by leveraging our learnings and experience from the Indian market and enhancing our reach in the MENA region by introducing novel offerings.”

Cashfree has already established itself as one of the leaders in the payment solutions space in India. With over 50 per cent market share among payment processors, Cashfree today leads the way in bulk disbursals in India with its Cashfree Payouts.