E-payment solutions firm FSS raises Rs 350 crore from Premji Invest

Payments leader FSS, has secured approx INR 350 crore funding from Premji Invest, the family investment office of Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro Enterprises.

This funding will be utilized by FSS for fuelling innovations in digital payments for e and m commerce industry, financial inclusion and remittance businesses and also expanding on the Company’s hosted services business and further strengthening its software products/IP portfolio. The funding will also accelerate the Company’s aggressive growth plans in global markets.

“We are excited to partner with FSS through this investment and support the next phase of growth opportunities for the company. We believe that the leadership team at FSS has built an organization on a foundation of innovation and integrity that has made it a trusted partner to its stakeholders especially the Banks, Financial Institutions and Payment Processors. The payments landscape is undergoing technology, scaling up / usage up-gradations & outsourcing and we expect FSS to play a leading role in this transition through its product / services capability and existing partnerships with banks and other verticals where payments originate,” said Prakash Parthasarathy, the Chief Investment Officer at Premji Invest.

The funding will fuel the Company’s ambitious growth plans in the payments arena and reinforce its diversified capabilities to benefit the Payments Industry both in India and globally. The timing of the funding is appropriate as it comes at a time when the payment markets, in India and overseas are positioned for exponential growth. The funding is a significant catalyst to the Company to pursue an aggressive growth strategy.

“FSS, with its in-depth payments domain expertise built over 23 years with proven credentials across payments landscape, is uniquely positioned to become a global payments industry leader. The latest round of funding from Premji Invest, along with the active support of our existing investors, NEA and NYLIM Jacob Ballas, will enable us capitalize on the emerging opportunities in digital payments much faster and consolidate our position as a global leader in payments. In the next 18 to 24 months, the Company plans to go public. The fact that FSS has consistently attracted PE investments over the past 2 decades and this latest investment from Premji Invest will enable us to prepare for the IPO” said Nagaraj V Mylandla, Founder and Managing Director, FSS.

This is the fourth round of funding successfully closed by FSS. FSS had earlier raised two rounds of equity infusion from global private equity fund Carlyle and subsequently another round from NEA and NYLIM Jacob Ballas. The Company provided an exit to Carlyle during the third round of funding. The current round with Premji Invest involves a combination of primary funding into the Company and secondary funding through purchase from existing shareholders, with significant portion being primary in nature.

FSS to deploy the funds to:

·         Speed up company’s innovations in digital payments with focus on high growth, high potential areas such as e-commerce, m-commerce and financial inclusion

·         Strengthen the software product portfolio to build up its IP stack in Payments

·         Consolidate its market leadership position in hosted services such as Transaction Switching, ATM & PoS Managed Services and Deployment

·         Grow aggressively in new areas such as fraud and risk management and wholesale payments that will predominantly include Payment Hub and Mandate Mgt systems for RTGS, NACH, NEFT, IMPS and SWIFT payment process mechanism

·         Accelerate the overseas growth strategy

FSS has spearheaded the growth of retail & whole sale payments in India through a rich portfolio of software products, services and solutions to banks, financial institutions, merchants, government and other verticals.

“This is an exciting moment for the company and investors. FSS has executed very well and delivered to its customers and we are confident that they will continue to be a leader in the payments industry,” said Bala Deshpande, Senior Managing Director – NEA, India, speaking on the occasion.

“FSS has been the clear industry leader and pioneer in payments processing, technology and products leveraging Indian and international talent, serving domestic and overseas clients. We are proud to have partnered the FSS founders and management team since the Fund’s investment in 2010 in their mission to build a world class payments powerhouse serving clients globally. We congratulate the team on concluding the current fundraising. We believe this will accelerate FSS’s journey to build further scale, remain an indispensable partner to its clients and stay ahead of the curve in payments products, services and technology,” Srinivas Chidambaram, Managing Director, Jacob Ballas Capital India Pvt Ltd, also shared positive sentiments.

Avendus Capital has acted as advisors to the company for this investment.