MobiKwik Scouts For Investor Before An IPO, Eyes Profit In FY21

Digital payments provider MobiKwik is targeting full-year profitability from 2020-21 and is looking to on board an investor who will help it launch an initial public offering in the next three years, a top official has said.

"We are looking for an investor who will help the company go for an IPO in three years," said Bipin Preet Singh, co-founder and chief executive of MobiKwik. He, however, refused to comment on whether the investor would be a strategic or financial one.

MobiKwik already counts Sequoia Capital, Bajaj Finance and South African firm Net1 UEPS Technologies among its major shareholders. The company, whose competitors include the Alibaba-backed Paytm, had doubled revenue in FY19 to Rs 184.6 crore.

Singh said there was not much cash burn in the payments business and attributed higher investments as one of the reasons for delaying profitability.

MobiKwik is focusing on leveraging its user base of over 100 million to offer tailormade products like micro-insurance, loans and investments which are margin accretive. It sold four lakh loans worth Rs 500 crore in FY19 and aims to more than double that amount in FY20, Singh said.

Mobikwik at present sells products of seven insurance companies and is targeting sale of two million policies across life, general and health space in FY20, Singh said, adding that it is not selling policies under any of the flagship government schemes.

In wealth management, MobiKwik is starting sale of liquid funds that can be withdrawn before a lock-in period ends, thus giving investors more than a fixed deposit sans any hassles, Singh said. All the investments happen through the MobiKwik app.

"We are not interested to be a payments bank or a shadow bank. We want to be a financial distributor with a deeper say in our partnerships, Singh said. The company is targeting urban customers with deep pockets and who are digital savvy, he added.