Lightspeed Venture Partners invests Rs500 million in Essel Group’s Itz Cash Card

Venture firm Lightspeed Venture Partners has invested Rs500 million in Itz Cash Card along with the two previous investors in the card, Matrix Partners India and Intel Capital. The capital will be used by Itz Cash Card to further expand its product portfolio and diversify its business, including venturing into the retail payments space.

Bejul Somaia, managing director of Lightspeed Advisory Services India will join the board of Itz Cash Card. The amount invested will go toward helping ItzCash scale its existing business and tap new products and market segments.

Commenting on the investment, Ashok Goel, chairman, Itz Cash Card, said, ''The investment by Lightspeed Venture Partners further validates the strong business model and growth of ItzCash. This is the second round of PE funding that ItzCash has received in the last two years, the previous one being $10 million from Matrix Partners and Intel Capital. Both the existing investors are also participating in this round.''

ItzCash prepaid cards offer cashless payment solutions for individuals and businesses across physical, internet and mobile channels.

Bejul Somaia, managing director, Lightspeed Advisory Services India, said, ''ItzCash card is a unique and innovative product that offers convenient payment solutions for multiple services. We believe there is significant growth potential for this product given that cash accounts for approximately 97 per cent of the country's retail payments, which exceed $500 billion.''

Lightspeed Venture Partners has invested in more than 100 technology companies over the past two decades.