Electronic Payment and Services (EPS), a retail banking technology and automated teller machine (ATM) services provider, has received a $25-million (about ₹169 crore) funding from UK-based Apis Partners.

The funding, fourth for the company, is in exchange for a minority stake and board representation in EPS.

Apis Partners is a PE asset manager focused on financial services across Africa and Asia.

“We will use the funding for both organic and inorganic growth. On the inorganic front, we are looking to buyout some small businesses, while on the organic front we would be developing our existing business portfolio and penetrate further into semi-urban and rural India,” EPS founder Mani Mamallan said.

He, however, did not divulge the details of the buyouts the company was looking at.

“We have developed a scalable platform and are working to become the leading ATM outsourcing provider in India,” Mamallan said, adding the number of ATMs is expected to grow to about 5.5 lakh by 2021 from the present 2.3 lakh.

Previous funding Previously, the company had raised $20 million in three rounds of funding from private equity investors Aavishkaar, Aavishkaar GoodWell and Netherlands-based development financial institution FMO.

None of these investors has exited the company, Mamallan added.

Mumbai-headquartered EPS was founded in 2011 and provides services, including ATM operations, outsourcing and managed services for public, regional, rural and co-operative banks across all 28 states.

The company has installed ATMs for 26 banks, including State Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Canara Bank, while it deployed more than 5,000 ATMs across urban, semi-rural and rural locations.

“The sector is growing rapidly thanks to the government’s recent emphasis on financial inclusion and high growth of card-holders as a result of the new Indian card scheme RuPay. We believe EPS is ideally positioned to deliver exciting growth,” said Apis Co-Founder and Managing Partner Udayan Goyal.

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