IKaaz

IKaaz Software Private Limited, founded in 2012 by Soma Sundaram and Pavan Chengi, established itself as a mobile payments platform provider based in Bengaluru, India. The name 'IKaaz' is derived from the Tamil word 'Kaas', which means money. Sundaram, with two decades of experience in the software industry, including senior roles at Nokia Money and the mobile payments startup Obopay, brought significant domain expertise to the venture. The company targeted enterprises, business correspondents, and merchants in both developed and emerging markets, enabling them to offer cashless transactions.

The core of IKaaz's offering was a comprehensive mobile payments platform designed to be fast, secure, and affordable. A key product was its mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) system, which utilized Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The company provided a unique solution with an inexpensive NFC tag that could be affixed to any feature phone, effectively turning it into a contactless payment device and bypassing the need for customers to own high-end smartphones. This 'Tap & Pay' system allowed merchants to accept electronic payments without investing in costly traditional POS equipment. The platform also included a consumer-facing mobile wallet and an app, Mowa, for peer-to-peer and merchant transactions. Their technology stack was versatile, supporting not only NFC but also QR codes and audio-based payments.

IKaaz secured undisclosed seed funding in early 2014 and later raised $588K in an angel round in June 2017. The company served notable clients such as Café Coffee Day, Domino's, and Subway. In a significant milestone, IKaaz was acquired by the Southeast Asian ride-hailing and mobile payments platform, Grab, in January 2018 for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was driven by Grab's strategy to enhance its own payments platform, GrabPay, by integrating IKaaz's robust technology, which was built to perform well even in challenging internet conditions. Following the acquisition, the IKaaz team joined Grab's Bengaluru R&D center to focus on feature development and partner integration for GrabPay.

Keywords: mobile payments, mPOS, NFC payments, tap and pay, cashless transactions, financial technology, digital wallet, Soma Sundaram, Grab acquisition, point of sale solutions, emerging markets payments, Mowa app, peer-to-peer payments, merchant payment solutions, contactless payments, payment gateway, Indian fintech, Bengaluru startup, QR code payments, audio-based payments