Truecaller Acquires Indian Payments Startup Chillr

To strengthen its payments business in the country, Sweden-headquartered caller identification app, Truecaller has announced its acquisition of Indian payments startup Chillr, for an undisclosed amount. In the coming months, Truecaller will roll out credit and other financial services on its payments app to Indian users. 

Post acquisition, Chillr’s full team will be absorbed by the company, while co-founder Sony Joy will join as the vice president of Truecaller Pay. 

Truecaller which has 150 million users in India, also announced its plans to double its team size in the country. It has 300 partners in India, where it will leverage its payments feature. 

Truecaller had entered the digital payments space in India with UPI last year and now aims to be in the top three payments ecosystem in the country in the next few months. 

"By acquiring Chillr, we are reaffirming our commitment to mobile payments and plan to increase the adoption of it amongst our user base. Users will soon be able to make bill payments using its service in a matter of weeks," said Turecaller's chief strategy officer Nami Zarringhalam. 

Owned by Mumbai-based Backwater Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Chillr was launched by Joy in December 2014. In 2015, it had secured $7 million (Rs 46.7 crore) in a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital. Blume Ventures, Uniqorn Ventures and others.