Fintech unicorn Razorpay has acquired a majority stake in consumer payment platform POP, which is backed by venture capital firms India Quotient and Unilever Ventures, as it seeks to expand beyond payments and foray into loyalty, engagement, and commerce enablement domains.
Bengaluru-based POP said on Tuesday it has raised $30 million (about Rs 258.5 crore) from Razorpay, which has acquired a majority stake in the startup. This comes almost a year after the startup secured seed funding from investors including India Quotient. POP’s other investors include Unilever Ventures, Incubate Fund, and Nuventures.
POP, operated by Poptech Growth Pvt Ltd, didn't disclose the financial terms of the transaction.
With the funding, the fintech startup will invest in product innovation, increase rewards for consumers via POPcoins, and accelerate deeper merchant partnerships across direct-to-consumer and lifestyle categories.
“POPcoins are designed to build habits, increase retention, and reduce CAC (customer acquisition cost) for merchants–all while making payments more rewarding for the end user. With Razorpay’s support, we will double down on our mission to bring a loyalty-first payments ecosystem that will help businesses scale with purpose, speed, and impact,” Bhargav Errangi, founder of POP.
The company was founded in 2023 and launched its UPI platform in June last year. POP offers rewards in every UPI transaction via its rewards currency POPcoins in partnership with brands. Users can pay via POP UPI, shop on POP’s in-app marketplace, or use the POP credit card to earn POPcoins that can be redeemed across a network of merchants to secure discounts on product purchases.
The startup claims to conduct over six lakh daily UPI transactions and crossed one million unique monthly active transactors. It has also issued more than 40,000 RuPay credit cards in a co-branded partnership with Yes Bank.
Meanwhile, this investment allows Razorpay to expand its footprint in loyalty, engagement, and commerce enablement categories. It also aligns with Razorpay's prior acquisition loyalty and rewards management platform PoshVine in 2022, which the company says laid the foundation for its full-stack platform for growth market Razorpay Engage.
“POP bridges that gap by combining instant rewards, seamless payments, and brand discovery in one platform. It’s a powerful way for businesses to turn everyday transactions into lasting customer relationships,” said Harshil Mathur, co-founder and CEO of Razorpay.
