“The Deed of the Dying” Many ‘digital wallet” companies in Asia (ex. China) are finding it hard to demonstrate any meaningful value for the users. Wallet Players have experimented with various business models to monetize, but primary focus thus far has been on ‘customer acquisition and usage — through deals, offers, promotion, zero fees, etc. If 2015–16 was “rapid scale up time” for ‘wallet companies,’ then 2017–18, very soon, will be the year of M&A, strategic partnerships, and consolidation for these startups. Mobile payments is primarily a DATA business, where business economics is ‘tight,’ and viable only at SCALE. Sub-optimal scale leads to…
Author: Gaurav Sharma
Author
Gaurav Sharma
Gaurav Sharma is a FinTech professional with 17+ years of operating experience in startups, global banks, consumer tech across Asia. Gaurav comes with a deep product, business, operations and investment expertise in consumer-facing mobile space (Commerce, Lending, Payments, Platforms), and he frequently writes and speaks about Artificial Intelligence, Payments, Lending, and Product Management.