EnKash Notches $3M In Series A Funding; Grab Teams With SM Cinema For Ticket Payments

Welcome to The Axis, your late look at payments news from around the world. Coverage includes India-based EnKash’s Series A fundraising round. Grab and SM Cinema are teaming up for movie ticket payments in the Philippines, Vietnam has reportedly notched strong mobile payments growth, and nearly 90 percent of small and medium-sized businesses accept card payments in Romania.

In India, EnKash notched $3 million in Series A funding for its business-to-business (B2B) payments platform, VCCircle reported. The company plans to use the funding to “ramp up its leadership team” in the words of the outlet as well as enhance its technology. EnKash Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Yadvendra Tyagi said, according to the report, “Businesses in India have been struggling with manual payment processes for a long time.” Tyagi continued, “We are easing out B2B payment problems for thousands of businesses today.” The company, which was started two years ago, counts ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank in its roster of clients.

On another note, SM Cinema and Grab are teaming up for movie ticket payments in the Philippines, ABS-CBN reported. GrabPay will reportedly come to certain locations in Cebu and Metro Manila in April, with nationwide availability by the conclusion of the year. To make a payment using the feature, customers can scan a quick-response (QR) code available in booths for ticketing as well as through the movie theatre company’s website for reservations made in advance.  At the time time, it was reported that users of GrabPay users in the Philippines jumped 130 percent during Q1 of 2019 in comparison to the same period in 2018.

In Vietnam payment news, the country has notched its highest mobile payments growth over the past year, telecomasia.com reported. The PwC-conducted Global Consumer Insights Survey 2019 found that the share of consumers using these services rose from 37 percent last year to 61 percent. The report also noted that the increase “was also the largest in the six Southeast Asian countries that took part in the survey.” In contrast to Vietnam, mobile payments increased to 46 percent in 2019 from 34 percent in 2018 in Singapore. The report also noted that consumers in Asia are more engaged socially through the internet than their counterparts in the Americas and Europe.

And in Romania, nearly 90 percent of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) accept card payments, Business Review reported. At the same time, almost six in 10 SMBs — or 58 percent — take mobile payments. In addition, it was reported that roughly four in 10 Romanian respondents — or 39 percent — said they would consider making payments via mobile. And 40 percent indicated they were still not sure about adopting that payment method.