Start-up Mintpay raises Rs. 51.5 mln in seed funding
The Sri Lankan ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ start-up, Mintpay, launched in the latter part of 2020, has been steadily gaining momentum islandwide as more and more consumers have begun integrating the Mintpay platform to their own financial routine when shopping online.
It has raised Rs. 51.5 million in seed funding which will be utilised to further improve the technology, roll out new products and hire talent, the company said in a media release.
At present, there are over 160+ leading merchants active on the platform, and products ranging from fashion, health and fitness, beauty products, jewellery to pet care are now available for Mintpay members.
Over the past 17 months,
Mintpay has consistently been able to drive immense value to the overall revenue of its merchant partners and unprecedented payment flexibility to its B2C user base, with the recently concluded seed funding round being a testament to the potential for further growth in Sri Lanka.
"The general consensus is that Sri Lanka is a laggard with regards to the adoption of new technologies. However, we were determined to prove that this is far from true, and that Sri Lanka is a place where new and novel technologies can be built and taken to the regional, and global stage," said Mintpay co-founder, Urmila Chandrasekaran.
The seed funding for Mintpay is backed by nine investors while the debt financing is extended by Seylan Bank. The engaged parties in the funding round involved distinguished members such as Bernard Sinniah, former Managing Director of Citi Bank in London while Suranga Priyashantha, the ex-Growth Marketing Director of Afterpay was also a part of this round.
They were accompanied by the Lanka Angel Network and nVentures, a Singapore based Venture Capital company.
“We were able to disrupt the norm and develop an alternative credit deciding system, without having to rely on any third-parties. We will continue to invest in technology and roll out new products and features”, noted Kukaraj Tharmasegaram, co-founder of Mintpay.