FreeCharge is an India-based mobile commerce platform that rewards users with coupons when they pay phone, satellite television, and utility bills. Customers use its website or mobile apps to top up prepaid mobile plans or pay TV and utility bills; FreeCharge then emails coupons redeemable at e-commerce sites like Flipkart and Amazon India and at brick-and-mortar retailers such as McDonald's and Baskin Robbins. For participating vendors, the company provides insights into consumer behavior by tracking which coupons are redeemed and what products or services they are used for. FreeCharge raised an $80M Series C and has said it will expand into transaction advertising as a future revenue stream. The company reports a customer base of more than 20 million and says its mobile app was downloaded 10 million times last year. It is also eyeing growth in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. FreeCharge operates an online and mobile platform that rewards consumers with coupons when they add money to prepaid mobile plans or pay utility bills. The company claims about 10 million registered users and says mobile transactions on its app have increased 30x year-to-date, with 70% of transactions now coming from the mobile app. FreeCharge emails coupons redeemable at merchants like McDonald’s, Domino’s, and Amazon and uses transaction data to build targeted offline-to-online advertising. The startup faces competition from offline top-up vendors and, on the advertising side, from Google and Facebook. It has acquired Wishberg (an acqui-hire) and Preburn (building an app-suggestion product) as it expands product capabilities. Founded in 2010 and based in India, FreeCharge plans to expand its transaction-advertising platform and target other prepaid-heavy markets in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

Total raised

$113M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Feb 2015