State Bank Of India Invests In SMB Payments Firm Cashfree

The State Bank of India has made an investment in Cashfree, the digital payments and banking tech company said Monday (June 7).

The move by India’s largest lender to invest in the Bangalore company “reinforces their shared vision of promoting digital modes of payments,” Cashfree said in a news release.

With a customer base of more than 100,000 businesses in India and around the world, Cashfree provides what it calls a “full-stack payments solutions platform” that lets clients accept and disburse online payments in a single integration.

Cashfree was incubated by PayPal and is backed by Apis Partners, Smilegate and Y Combinator. Its customers include Zomato, Cred, Nykaa, Delhivery, Acko and Shell, companies that use Cashfree for a range of business payment needs such as eCommerce payment collection, vendor payments and marketplace settlements.

The company says it processes $20 billion in transactions a year in India and eight other countries, including the U.S., Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

Cashfree CEO and Co-Founder Akash Sinha said the investment fits perfectly with the company’s growth strategy.

“We are excited about our partnership with the country’s trusted and leading lender SBI,” he said. “The investment from India’s largest bank shows its trust in Cashfree’s innovation and the way we are rapidly scaling up the payments business.”

Cashfree earlier this year announced a partnership with TradeIndia, the country’s largest B2B marketplace, with the two companies aiming to provide online payments through cards, UPI and internet banking.

Monday’s announcement comes at a time when India is seeing a surge in digital payments. As PYMNTS reported earlier this year, with payments company Paytm hitting 1 billion transactions per month and United Payments Interface reporting more than twice that amount, FinTech firms are expected to have a growing presence in the country.