Citrus Pay to Get a Huge Boost From PayPal Co-Founder Peter Thiel

PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel is looking to give the Indian payments market a boost by investing $25 million in one of the country’s fastest growing companies, Citrus Pay.

Citrus Pay’s list of features for consumers is powerful. The company provides payments and money management online and through its mobile app for consumers, provides faster checkouts online, and supports person-to-person payments.

On the merchant side, Citrus provides payments acceptance with an easy integration and charges a rate of  1.99% +₹3 per transaction.

According to sources, the Facebook board member who is famous for backing the social media giant in its infancy is set to invest $3 million of his own money in the company. The rest is expected to be provided by existing investors, including econtext Asia, Beenos Asia, and Sequoia Capital.

Citrus has so far declined to comment on the investment, and no response has been provided by both Thiel and Sequoia Capital.

Citrus Looking to Increase Its Customer Base

At the end of Citrus’ last fundraising drive in December 2013, the company was worth $30 million. This time, the startup is looking to raise $70 million, and Thiel’s investment may be the push that they need to raise it.

Citrus handles multiple clients on both sides of the payment space and is currently averaging transactions worth $ 1.5 billion annually.

Citrus managing director Amrish Rau has expressed the company’s desire to expand their base by over 700 percent, from the current 3,500 merchants to more than 25,000 merchants.