Fintech startup Zerone Microsystems Private Limited has now raised USD 1.3 million in its pre-Series A funding round. The round was led by IAN with participation from IAN Fund and TCA. Prominent angel investors like Sanjiv Bajaj, Raman Roy, Sanjay Rishi, and Mahesh Ramachandran led the round.

The startup has developed a cloud-based, ultra-low-cost SoftPOS solution called Bharat ZupPOS. Built on its proprietary technology, ZupPOS converts any smartphone into a payment terminal and allows merchants to accept payment from credit cards, debit cards, and UPI apps such as BHIM without any additional hardware.

Zerone is now preparing itself to further scale its cost-effective SoftPOS offerings AND develop new segment-specific SoftPOS solutions. Zerone will broaden its offerings with interactive features such as games. news as well as accounting – making it a platform of choice.

Zerone Microsystems Private Limited was founded by Dr. Jaijit Bhattacharya, an ex-KPMG Senior Partner and former India Head of Center for 4th Industrial Revolution of the World Economic Forum. 

The platform's objective is to democratize card acceptance along with acceptance of other forms of payments such as UPI/QR Code and Bharat QR code. This would enable the 850 million debit card holders and 50 million credit cardholders to make digital payments to a larger set of merchants, using their cards.

Dr. Jaijit Bhattacharya, Founder and CEO, Zerone Microsystems Private Limited said, “In India, a total of 80 million people require digital payment acceptance terminal but only 4 million merchants have the hardware POS machine. So, there is a sizable unmet market demand existing. This is where ZupPOS plays an integral role. It is a ultra low-cost digital payment solution for merchants and professionals that converts any smartphone into a payment terminal. We are delighted to have IAN and TCA on board as investors and will leverage the capital infusion to strengthen our platform in providing enhanced services to our users.”

“TCA (The Chennai Angels) has been in the forefront of investing in innovative tech startups. We are pleased to invest along with IAN (Indian Angel Network) in Zerone Microsystems. The SoftPOS will enable smart phones to accept physical card payments without the need for hardware-based point of sale devices in addition to supporting QR Code and UPI. This disruptive innovation will create an ecosystem for SME merchants to participate in the digital payment ecosystem” said Mahesh Ramachandran, Lead Investor at TCA who will be Investment Director in Zerone Microsystems.