JusPay Nears Unicorn Status With $150 Mn Fundraise Amid Payment Gateway Exodus

SoftBank-backed fintech infrastructure firm JusPay is likely to raise funds worth $150 million as the company is all set to become the first unicorn (start-ups exceeding $1 billion valuation) of 2025, according to a report published by MoneyControl. The report revealed that the latest funding round will see participation from SoftBank and WestBridge.

With the new round, the fintech firm’s overall fundraising will exceed $237 million, including $60 million in a Series C round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in 2021. Currently, JusPay is raising funds at a valuation of around $1 billion, the report said.

The funding update comes after multiple payment gateways including PhonePe, Razorpay, and Cashfree called off partnership with the payment orchestration platform.

Also Read | PhonePe's Direct Integration Move for Payments: Can It Impact Third-Party Providers' Biz like Juspay?

Payment Gateways End Ties With Juspay

Companies like PhonePe, Cashfree and Razorpay have moved away from third-party connections to establish direct integrations of their platform with merchants. A full connection with a merchant would allow businesses to gain control of their client base, including data and compliance, and expand payment solutions. This move came after companies have increased their investment in payment processing to guarantee that merchants experience as little downtime as possible.

This shift is also due to Juspay receiving the final license from the banking authority, which allows it to compete directly as a payment aggregator with these platforms.

“Merchants pay us for our software because it delivers value to them. We do not rely on PGs for this money...For the past 12 years, we've formed deep connections with prominent merchants, serving as their extended payments teams, delivering technology to ease payments operations, extensive payment domain expertise, and partnering on long-term ecosystem efforts,” Sheetal Lalwani and Vimal Kumar, co-founders of JusPay had said.

Also Read | After Phonepe, Razorpay & Cashfree Exit Juspay Partnership, Opt for Direct Merchant Integration

JusPay’s Financial Performance

Founded by Vimal Kumar and Sheetal Lalwani in 2012, JusPay is the leading provider of payment orchestration software. In addition, the fintech firm also received authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a payment aggregator (PA) last February.

The company showed strong financial performance in the fiscal year ended March 2024, increasing its operating revenue by nearly 50 per cent. It had reported revenue of Rs 319.32 crore for FY24, around 49 per cent up from Rs 213.39 crore in FY23.