2016-04-20

By Mudit Mohilay, The Tech Portal

First-of-its-kind-in-India mobile bitcoin startup Zebpay, which was one of the first to usher in the use of cryptocurrency transactions to India, is announcing yet another milestone. The startup has now crossed a whopping ₹100 crore (~$15 Million) turnover milestone within just 10 months of operation.

The milestone was achieved on April 15, according to founder Saurabh Agrawal. Although bitcoins are the company’s chief forte, it has also managed to rake in almost 1 crore from sale of airtime and e-commerce vouchers.

For those who are unaware of it, Bitcoin is a digital asset and a payment system which was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto back in 2008. The system is peer-to-peer, meaning that users can transact directly without an intermediary. Transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a public distributed ledger called the block chain.

The current rate of growth of bitcoins is about 25 coins per block, every 10 minutes.

According to Sandeep Goenka, co-founder of Zebpay, High Net Worth individuals and freelancers were among some of the most avid adapters of the currency. While the former used it as investment, for the latter, it was a means to receive payments.

By receiving payments in bitcoin, they save the high fee of 5-15% charged by remittance companies.

Zebpay has also made it mandatory for all users to submit their PAN card and all payments are made through bank-to-bank transfers only to ensure transparency.

Just last month, the cryptocurrency startup had also unveiled a slew of new addition to its app, exclusively for pro bitcoiners. The app’s new features allows users to set their own bitcoin price (bid / ask), keep ₹ balance in the app to buy bitcoin instantly, and check transaction status using transaction id. These features are available to all existing and new users who download the latest version and add significantly to Zebpay’s prominent features.

The company has managed to raise over 6 crores in private equity investments so far, from growth equity investors Arjun Handa, chairman and managing director at Claris Lifesciences, and Amit Jindal, managing director at Jindal Worldwide.

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