ICICI Bank, India’s second largest bank by assets, has acquired 8.85% stake in Mumbai-based global remittance platform Avenues Payment for ₹10 crores, as reported by The Hindu Business Line. The acquisition of shares is expected to be completed by October this year.
The bank does not require regulatory approval since the acquisition of shareholding is less than 10%.
The investment will help the company to promote the adoption of digital cross-border remittance platforms for corporate and retail customers.
Fintech company Avenues Payment was founded by Vishwas Patel and Hershel Asmani in 2012. It provides a technology-enabled platform to help its customers to send money across the border. The company is backed by e-commerce service provider Avenues India.
Avenues Payment has a turnover of around ₹1.2 crores with a presence across Indian, United Kingdom, and Australia.
ICICI Bank has been taking a keen interest in the Indian fintech domain with a number of investments to its name.
In July 2018, ICICI Bank invested in around ₹8.7 crores in digital payments startup ePayLater.
The private lender’s other notable investments in the fintech sector include mobile payments startup Taptis Technologies, Aadhaar and Biometric payment solution Fingpay, along with Arteria Technologies, a startup that offers SAP-based supply chain solutions.
Earlier this year, ICICI Bank had planned to invest ₹100 crores in tech startups through its new fund. The bank plans to fulfil its investment by the end of this year, having already spent ₹40 crores from the fund.