Freecharge

Freecharge, is an Indian digital marketplace for financial services based in Gurugram, Haryana, India. Freecharge services are available across a range of financial instruments including savings, payments, insurance, investment and lending. The company’s focus is to create an ecosystem of innovative products and features that enables cashless transactions. Freecharge consumers can pay utility bills (Electricity, Gas), pay Landline bills or recharge Mobile, Broadband, DTH and Metro cards. In addition, Freecharge powered by Axis Bank enables the users to invest in mutual funds and get easy credit through Freecharge EMI. Freecharge UPI and payment gateway allows consumers to instantly send or receive money, shop at leading offline and online merchants across categories movies, entertainment, food, shopping, travel to get cashback & discounts.

Freecharge
Type of site
Private
FoundedAugust 2010 (2010-08)
HeadquartersGurugram, India
Area servedIndia
OwnerAxis Bank
Founder(s)Kunal Shah
Sandeep Tandon
CEOSiddharth Mehta
IndustryInternet
ServicesRecharges, Bill Payments, UPI Money Transfers, Deals, Gift Cards, Mutual Funds
RegistrationRequired
Current statusActive
Kunal Shah, founder of Freecharge

On 8 April 2015, Snapdeal acquired Freecharge in what is being referred to as the second biggest take over in the Indian e-commerce sector so far, after the buy out of Ibibo by rival MakeMyTrip, and the biggest venture capital exit in India to date. The deal was for approximately US$400 million as cash and stock.[1][2] On 27 July 2017, Axis Bank acquired Freecharge[3] for $60 million.

History

Freecharge was started in August 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon.[4][5][6] After getting seed funding of an undisclosed amount from Tandon Group and Sequoia Capital in 2010,[7] the company secured Series A funding of ₹200 million from Sequoia Capital in 2011.[8] In November 2012, the company claimed to be doing online recharge of ₹6 million on a daily basis, translating to ₹2.19 billion a year.[9]

In 2011, Freecharge was named one of the most promising technology startups from India by Pluggd.in.[10]

On 1 September 2014, Freecharge received $33 Million Series B Funding from Sequoia Capital, Sofina and Ru-Net, which was one of the biggest fund raising by an Indian technology startup.[11] On 6 February 2015, Freecharge further raised $80 Million from Hong Kong-based fund Tybourne Capital Management and SF-based fund Valiant Capital Management and existing investors.[12] Freecharge is building an advertising platform that will capture online and offline purchase behavior and brand preferences of consumers, by offering incentives and discount coupons to users to transact on its platform.[13]

On 8 April 2015, Indian e-commerce firm Snapdeal acquired Freecharge for ₹2800 crore (US$400 million) in cash and stock.[14] In March 2017, Snapdeal announced Jason Kothari will be the new CEO of Freecharge. Snapdeal decided to invest $20 million into the same.

April 2016, FreeCharge rolls out Chat and Pay – feature in its app where merchants and customers can connect over chat and just initiate payments. [15]

On 18 May 2017, Jasper Infotech, which owns and operates Freecharge, decided to invest ₹22 Crore more in the company,[16] making it its third such investment.

On 27 July 2017, it was officially reported that Axis Bank bought out Freecharge for $60 million[17]

March22 2017, FreeCharge names Ankit Khanna as COO, Prior to this, Khanna was the chief product officer of the company.[18]

March30 2018, FreeCharge enables BHIM UPI on its Digital Wallet platform. [19]

On 27 August 2019, Freecharge launched Digital Credit Cards.[20]

References
  1. "Snapdeal buys Freecharge in biggest startup M&A". 8 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  2. "Axix Bank acquired Freecharge". Times of India.
  3. "After Flipkart-Snapdeal Merger, Axis Bank Acquires Freecharge - TechStory". TechStory. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  4. "Freecharge.in Launched, To Make Prepaid Mobile Recharge Virtually Free In India". The Telegraph. 20 August 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  5. "OYO's Ritesh Agarwal Sets Up Aroa Ventures To Invest In Early Stage Startups". Inc42 Media. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  6. "The Art of Successful 'Failure': Founders who made big bucks after exiting startups they founded". cnbctv18.com. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  7. "How Freecharge got its mojo".
  8. "Freecharge Secures INR 20 Cr Series A Funding from Sequoia Capital". NextBigWhat.com. Next Big What. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  9. "Freecharge claims it is doing 40K mobile recharges a day; plans new features, mobile apps". VCCircle. Techcircle.in. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  10. "2011's Most Promising Technology Startups from India [The List]". Pluggd.in. NextBigWhat. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  11. "FreeCharge, Which Gives Users Coupons For Charging Their Mobile Plans, Raises $33M Series B [The List]". Techcrunch.com. Techcrunch. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  12. "FreeCharge raises $80 million in new funds". Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  13. Garia, Nikita (2 September 2014). "FreeCharge raises $33 million in Series B funding". FreeCharge raises $33 million in Series B funding - Livemint. Livemint. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  14. "Snapdeal Acquires FreeCharge Online Recharge Service". NDTV Gadgets360.com. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  15. https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/social/freecharges-chat-and-pay-feature-is-first-step-towards-taking-online-payments-offline/
  16. Gooptu, Biswarup (18 May 2017). "Jasper Infotech puts Rs 22 crore more into FreeCharge wallet". The Economic Times. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  17. http://www.livemint.com/Companies/8cZBSyVgBrYpGMKf68dp1M/Axis-Bank-acquires-Freecharge-for-Rs385-crore.html
  18. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/freecharge-names-ankit-khanna-as-coo/articleshow/57776791.cms
  19. https://www.datareign.com/freecharge-enables-bhim-upi-platform/
  20. "Freecharge launches Digital Credit Cards powered by Axis Bank". www.indiainfoline.com. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
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