Business Development & Strategic Partnerships - D2C

At $4.4bn, B'luru tech funding this yr nearly equals next 5 cities combined. [email protected] / Sep 25, 2026, 01:30 IST Bengaluru: Bengaluru's tech startups raised $4.4 billion in the first nine months of 2026, almost matching the $4.8 billion raised collectively by the next five cities, underlining the Karnataka capital's continued dominance of India's startup funding landscape. According to Tracxn's 'India Tech - 9M 2026 Report', Bengaluru accounted for 43% of India's tech funding during the period, compared with 38% in the corresponding period of 2025. Mumbai, Gurugram, Noida, Delhi and Hyderabad together accounted for about $4.8 billion. The report covers funding from Jan 1 to Sept 21, 2026. Bengaluru's funding was also higher than the combined funds raised by the next three cities, Mumbai ($1.8 billion), Gurugram ($1.6 billion), and Noida ($660 million). The city's funding rose about 22% from $3.6 billion in the first nine months (9M) of 2025. Large rounds accounted for a significant portion of Bengaluru's funding. CRED raised $540 million, Rapido raised $240 million, and Sarvam raised $234 million. Other sizeable rounds included $220 million for KreditBee, $160 million for udaan and $130 million for Emergent. Rideriver, Slice, Navi and Pixxel each raised $100 million or more during the period. You May Like Mumbai remained the second-largest funding centre with $1.8 billion, up from $1.6 billion in 9M 2025. Its share rose from 16% to 18%. Neysa's $600 million Series B was the city's largest round, followed by Yotta's $150 million and Weaver's $103 million. Gurugram recorded the sharpest increase among the major centres. Funding more than doubled from $741 million to $1.6 billion, taking its share from 8% to 16%. The increase was driven substantially by Nxtra's $1 billion private-equity round. Hygenco raised $105 million. Noida, meanwhile, raised $660 million, slightly below the $693 million recorded in 9M 2025, while Delhi saw a much steeper fall, with funding dropping from $1.4 billion to $446 million and its share declining from 15% to 4%. Hyderabad, meanwhile, moved in the other direction, with funding rising from $202 million to $298 million. Pune's funding fell from $448 million to $184 million, while Chennai remained unchanged at $181 million. Ahmedabad declined from $135 million to $64.9 million. Across India, 1,134 funding rounds were recorded in 9M 2026, compared with 1,838 in 9M 2025. Total funding, however, rose to $10.3 billion from $9.7 billion, as larger rounds lifted the overall value despite fewer transactions. The city-wise data points to a funding market that remains heavily concentrated in a handful of established startup centres, with Bengaluru alone accounting for more than two-fifths of the funding captured by the top 10 cities in the country. End of Article

Mastercard launches Wallet Pay to expand digital wallet interoperability globally. September 22, 2026 The company said digital wallets have evolved into multi-service platforms, with more than 4.3 billion users globally and usage expected to exceed 6 billion by 2030. Mastercard has introduced Mastercard Wallet Pay, a global portfolio of solutions designed to improve interoperability and expand digital payment capabilities for wallet providers across contactless payments, QR codes and online transactions. The company said digital wallets have evolved into multi-service platforms, with more than 4.3 billion users globally and usage expected to exceed 6 billion by 2030. Wallet Pay is designed to help providers deliver payment and money movement services across borders while supporting greater access to the digital economy. Mastercard said the portfolio is being rolled out through collaborations with digital payment providers including Alipay+, AXIAN, CRED, DaviPlata, Mercado Pago, MTN and TenPay Global. The partnerships are expected to expand access to Mastercard's acceptance network and digital payment infrastructure across hundreds of millions of locations and digital access points worldwide. The Wallet Pay portfolio includes interoperability across wallets, platforms and payment types, secure issuing for credit, debit and prepaid cards, digital and e-commerce payment acceptance, accelerated money movement across 200-plus countries and territories and 150 currencies, as well as financial tools aimed at underbanked and unbanked consumers. "Wallets are gateways to the digital economy and launchpads for broader financial services. Through our Wallet Pay solutions, we're helping payment providers to enhance the interoperability and user experience of their services, underpinned by trust, scale and convenience for the people and businesses they serve." - Jorn Lambert, Chief Product officer, Mastercard Joyce Bo, executive vice president, Core Payments, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, said the next phase of digital wallets will focus on interoperability and expanding their reach across merchants, use cases and borders. "Consumers and merchants don't think about the complexity behind payments. They simply want to pay and get paid using the payment experiences they already know and trust, whether they're shopping at home or abroad. The first chapter of digital wallets was adoption. The next chapter is interoperability at scale. As wallet ecosystems mature, the challenge is extending their reach across more merchants, use cases and borders. Mastercard Wallet Pay helps wallet providers expand what they can offer, from cross-border payments to card issuing, without having to build all of that connectivity themselves." - Joyce Bo, Executive Vice President, Core Payments, Asia Pacific, Mastercard In Africa, Mastercard is working with AXIAN and MTN Group Fintech to extend digital wallet services and connectivity. AXIAN said its MVola and Mixx services are combining local reach with global payment connectivity, while MTN said its partnership with Mastercard is connecting millions of MoMo users to the global economy. "Financial inclusion in Africa requires strong partnerships and scalable infrastructure. Our partnership with Mastercard is connecting millions of MoMo users to the global economy. The combination of our local reach and Mastercard global network is a powerful way to unlock opportunities for millions." - Cedric N'Guessan, Executive, Payments and E-Commerce, MTN Group Fintech Mastercard said Wallet Pay builds on its wider financial inclusion efforts and is intended to support the expansion of digital wallets while enabling providers to introduce new payment and financial services without significant changes to their existing infrastructure. The TechAfrica News Podcast