PayMate India, a mobile payment company, has closed its second round of investment of $9 million led by Mayfield Fund and participation from existing investors, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures. Nikhil Khattau of Mayfield will join the board of PayMate. In July 2006, Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invested $5 million in PayMate.

PayMate India Private Limited is a mobile commerce solutions company based in Mumbai. PayMate was founded in may’2006 by Ajay Adiseshann, Founder and MD, Coruscant Tec and Co-founder, & Director Probir Roy. In a short span of time PayMate India has partnered with top MNC, State owned and Co-operative Banks to offer its unique mobile payment solution - PayMate.

PayMate is already accepted at over 3000 merchants and can be used to pay for purchase online, over the phone and across the counter via the mobile. For a detailed list of partners and merchants, log on to www.paymate.co.in. PayMate is the only Indian company to have been selected by Red Herring among Asia’s Top 100 start-ups two years in succession.

Here’s how PayMate works:

1. Once the customer chooses to pay via PayMate at the merchant, he/ she shares the registered mobile number with the merchant and instantly receives as SMS from PayMate asking for a payment authorization with a 4 digit PIN.
2. Customer replies to the SMS with the PIN and a dynamic ‘alpha code’ which is authenticated by PayMate and the customer’s bank account debited instantly.
3. A confirmation of the transaction status is sent to both the customer ( via SMS) and the merchant ( through the PayMate interface ) within a few seconds.