Fintech major Razorpay has made a bold move into the UPI consumer payments space by investing $30 million in Bengaluru-based startup POP, a platform known for blending digital payments with a rewards-first approach. The deal gives Razorpay a controlling stake in POP, although the latter will continue to run as an independent company.
POP, which kicked off its UPI-based services in June 2024, has seen rapid traction over the past year. It now handles over 6 lakh daily UPI transactions and has notched up more than 1 million unique monthly users, according to internal figures. Alongside its payments play, POP has also issued 40,000+ RuPay credit cards in partnership with Yes Bank, and claims to have fulfilled 2 lakh e-commerce orders via its app.
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The platform’s hook is its rewards engine — POPcoins, a universal loyalty currency that users earn with every transaction or purchase. These POPcoins can be redeemed across a wide merchant network, allowing users to get actual value in return for their everyday spending.
Razorpay’s backing will give POP the fuel it needs to grow its merchant ecosystem and beef up its loyalty tools. It’s also a strategic fit for Razorpay, which is looking to deepen its offerings for merchants by bundling payments, loyalty, and customer engagement into one platform.
This isn’t Razorpay’s first move into rewards — it acquired PoshVine in 2022 to layer loyalty into its core payment stack. But with POP, Razorpay now has a direct entry point into the consumer UPI landscape, positioning it to compete with players like PhonePe, Paytm, and the recently rebranded PostPe by BharatPe.
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POP previously raised $2.4 million in seed funding in June 2023 from India Quotient and several angel investors. With Razorpay’s capital and ecosystem muscle, it now aims to scale faster, sharpen its product offerings, and become
