Leading payments and API banking solutions company, Cashfree Payments (Cashfree) today announced its partnership with SonyLIV as the payments partner for the first edition of the “Shark Tank India” show.
Shark Tank is a 20-year-old international TV show that has reinvigorated start-ups across 40 countries and is touted as the world’s number one business reality show. The one-hour show features start-up founders making pitches to judges, who are also prospective investors, for raising funds.
The show’s importance in the country cannot be emphasized as India has 38,815 active start-ups as of date. Of these, 1,050 start-ups were launched in 2020. In the same year, start-ups raised $11.5 billion. By 2021-end, start-ups are projected to raise another $16-20 billion. And, all of this has happened and is set to happen, despite the pandemic. Cashfree Payments finds value in the collaboration, as its operations towards enabling businesses digitize and grow by providing distinctive payments solutions resonate well with the format of Shark Tank. Similarly, the show presents golden opportunities to Indian startups and entrepreneurs to showcase their business models.
Akash Sinha, Co-Founder and CEO, Cashfree Payments said, “We are glad to partner with SonyLIV for the Shark Tank India show as it allows us to associate with a platform that recognizes and supports young entrepreneurs. This is in line with Cashfree’s philosophy of fostering innovation in the Indian business ecosystem and contributing to the Make in India initiative.”
“Cashfree values the passion of entrepreneurs towards their businesses and such examples of extraordinary spirit and aspirations. In fact, we believe that this association will benefit the country’s overall start-up ecosystem – celebrating entrepreneurship and creating a more favorable environment for start-ups to bloom,” he added.
Ranjana Mangla, Sr. Vice President & Head of Ad Revenue – SonyLIV at Sony Pictures Networks India – Digital Business said, “It gives us immense pleasure to partner with Cashfree Payments for our first edition of Shark Tank in India. Our unique and valuable collaboration with Cashfree is sure to enhance the dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country. Being the payment partner for this edition of Shark Tank, we are happy to open that gateway for innovative minds to foster in synergy with Cashfree.”
With over 50% market share, Cashfree Payments today leads the way in bulk disbursals in India with Cashfree Payouts. Recently, India’s largest lender, SBI invested in Cashfree, underscoring the latter’s role in building a robust payments ecosystem.
Cashfree Payments works closely with all leading banks to build the core payments and banking infrastructure that powers the company’s products and is also integrated with major platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Paypal, Amazon Pay, Paytm and Google Pay. Apart from India, Cashfree products are used in eight other countries including the US, Canada and the UAE.
Shark Tank India is going to premiere on SonyLIV on Dec 20th.
About Cashfree Payments
Cashfree Payments is a leading payment and API banking solutions company. It provides full-stack payments solutions enabling businesses in India to collect payments and make payouts via all available methods with simple integration. Cashfree Payments’ offerings include an advanced and easy way to integrate payment gateway, a split payment solution for marketplaces, bank account verification API and Auto Collect — a virtual account solution to match inbound payments to customers. Founded by IIIT Hyderabad alumnus Akash Sinha and IIT Kharagpur graduate Reeju Datta, www.cashfree.com is among the leading payment service providers in India processing transactions worth USD 20 Billion annually. It has leveraged technology to lead payment disbursals in India with more than 50% market share among payment processors. Cashfree Payments enables more than 1,00,000 businesses with payment collections, vendor payouts, wage payouts, bulk refunds, expense reimbursements, loyalty and rewards. Apart from India, Cashfree Payments products are used in eight other countries including the USA, Canada and UAE. Cashfree Payments is backed by Silicon Valley investor Y Combinator, Apis Partners, State Bank of India (SBI) and was incubated by PayPal.