Bringing flexible payments to the credit-starved

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

When Kukaraj Tharmasegaram landed his first corporate job in Sri Lanka, obtaining a credit card proved difficult. Banks rejected him due to a lack of borrowing history despite a stable income. This experience sparked the creation of Mintpay.

😟 Problem

Sri Lanka relies heavily on physical currency, with cash making up 90% of transactions. This dominance causes slow checkouts and reconciliation errors for merchants.

Credit access remains severely restricted for most consumers. While nearly 89% of adults have a bank account, less than 10% possess a credit card. Traditional loyalty points also fail to drive retention because they often expire quietly.

💡 Solution

Mintpay offers a digital payment and rewards platform to replace cash transactions. The platform offers several capabilities:

• Pay Later: allows customers to split purchases into three interest-free installments using existing bank cards.
• Pay Now: lets users earn up to 10% instant cashback in rewards for making full payments.
• Mint Coins: provides a rewards currency that never expires and unlocks extra value.

Image credit: Mintpay

📊 Market size

Sri Lanka possesses a US$23 billion retail market. Currently, less than 30% of these transactions occur digitally. Regulators are actively backing initiatives to reduce the country’s cash reliance.

🤝 Team

• Kukaraj Tharmasegaram. Co-founder and CEO. He brings an engineering background from Monash University and experience developing patented technologies.
• Urmila Chandrasekeram. Co-founder and COO. She oversees corporate governance, regulatory compliance, and merchant network expansion.

🚀 Traction

• Reached over 500,000 customers and onboarded 3,000 merchants.
• Maintained a default rate under 0.8% using in-house AI underwriting.
• Grew gross transaction value at a 140% compound annual rate between FY22 and FY26.
• Partnered with over 100 corporate entities to distribute employee vouchers.

🏆 Competition

Mintpay competes with local buy-now-pay-later providers such as Koko Pay and Payzy, as well as other fintech apps. The startup differentiates itself by offering a multi-product ecosystem rather than a single feature.

Its proprietary AI evaluates over 1,000 data points per transaction to assess credit risk. Rivals currently lack comparable rewards platforms or corporate voucher integrations.

💰 Financials

🚩 Risks