“We are delighted to receive the in-principle approval from RBI for our payment aggregator license which will help us in enhancing our existing product capabilities and innovating new solutions to automate finances for millions of SMEs and small businesses in the country,” said Anish Achuthan, cofounder & chief executive officer, Open.
Earlier this year, Open also received a go-ahead from the RBI for its new cross-border payments product after completing the test phase of the second cohort under RBI’s regulatory sandbox.
In March 2020, the RBI had released the payment aggregator framework which stated that all payment gateways are required to obtain a licence to acquire merchants, and offer them payments services.
Following this, at least 185 fintech firms including big names like Cred, Razorpay, and PhonePe submitted proposals seeking the licence, ET
had reported previously.
Over the past several months, RBI has been holding presentations with payment gateway providers and other fintech firms that have applied for the licence. However, it has been strict in its evaluation of these applications, sources told ET.
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In May, Open entered India’s unicorn league after it
closed a $50 million financing led by IIFL Finance. The round also saw participation from existing investors Temasek, Tiger Global and 3one4 Capital.
With the fundraise, Open was valued at $1 billion.
The company, which was founded in 2017, is a neobanking platform that provides small businesses with tools and integrates with their current account. It competes with the likes of Jupiter, Razorpay X, Niyo and others.
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