FreeCharge, online platform for recharge, utility payments, promotions and couponing, has raised $33 million in Series B funding from Sequoia Capital, Sofina and RuNet. Freecharge is building an advertising platform that captures online and offline purchase behavior and brand preferences of consumers, by offering incentives and coupons to users to transact on its platform. This ad platform will cater to the needs of the Indian and other emerging markets.

The company is witnessing rapid growth. Mobile transactions on the Freecharge app have grown 30x since the beginning of 2014, and the company has more than 10 million registered users. FreeCharge also recently acquired Preburn, in addition to Wishberg, its first acquisition.

Shailendra Singh, Managing Director of Sequoia Capital India Advisors Pvt. Ltd., said “Freecharge is creating a unique new category, an advertising platform with the “consumption graph” for the most valuable online consumers. We are very impressed with the team’s execution and the rapid growth and engagement of users on the platform.”

Speaking about the funding, Galina Chifina, Investment Officer at ruNet said, “Freecharge is one of the most exciting companies in our Indian portfolio with a highly innovative business model that has global appeal and scalability. We are happy to participate in the new round to support the new initiatives the company has embarked upon. The team has done an awesome job to position Freecharge among the leaders of the mobile recharge/payment and data analysis market in India and we believe the new round will help the company to grow even faster”

 “We have been able to assemble one of the best start-up teams in the country and are leading the mobile internet revolution in India. 70% of our transactions come from mobile platforms and we are growing more than 400% year on year.” said Alok Goel, CEO of FreeCharge.

Kunal Shah, Co-Founder, FreeCharg added, “We are innovating at breakneck pace in the mobile app ecosystem and this round of funding will go a long way in establishing FreeCharge as a household brand in the country”.

FreeCharge is an exclusive online promotions partner for several well known brands. Amit Jatia, Vice Chairman, Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd (McDonald’s India – West & South), who’s restaurants use the Freecharge platform said, “FreeCharge provides us with a unique value proposition for driving promotions. They have been able to drive a significant number of customers from the online world into our restaurants with a performance tracking that is at par with online digital advertising.”