India’s VC-backed Qubecell acquired by mobile payments company Boku

Founded last year, Qubecell allows purchases over mobile internet through carrier billing. It raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Kae Capital, Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and TA Ventures in December 2012.

Boku, which claims to be the global leader in carrier billing and cross-platform mobile payments, will have access to Qubecells' direct carrier billing connections with four carrier networks in India and a number of local merchant relationships. The company estimates its technology will reach roughly 550 million Indian users.

"Our plan is to leverage the resources built by Qubecell to create a regional hub for our company's global operation that will provide support for our merchant and carrier customers across Asia, the Middle East, and Australia while helping to continue our expansion into the emerging markets," according to a Boku company statement.

Boku has offices in Europe, Latin America, and Asia, and reaches nearly 4 billion consumers worldwide, across 70 different countries with more than 270 operators. It is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and NEA.

Rival PayPal's Zong mobile payment service is available on 8 mobile networks in India, including market leaders Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar. A similar Estonian company, Fortumo, launched operations in the country in September.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Exits
• Technology
• India
• TMT
• Technology
• Exit
• Blume Ventures
• Venture