Walmart-backed Indian payment startup PhonePe raises $100 million at $12 billion valuation
Nickie Louise
Posted On February 14, 2023
Late last year, we wrote about PhonePe after the Walmart-backed Indian payment startup announced it was seeking to raise a massive $1 billion in funding. It now appears the startup did not even come close, falling short by about 50% of its fundraising goal.
Today, PhonePe announced it has raised $100 million from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds in a funding round that valued the Walmart Inc-backed company at $12 billion, making the payment giant India’s most valuable payments company and among the country’s most highly-valued startups.
PhonePe will use the fresh capital infusion to scale up its payments and insurance businesses in India, as well as to launch and scale new businesses such as lending, stockbroking, and online shopping over the next few years. So far, PhonePe has raised a total of $450 million in just six weeks, the payment startup said it expects to raise the remainder from global and Indian investors in months to come.
Meanwhile, it turns out that the $100 million fund is part of PhonePe’s primary fundraise that took place in January through which the company raised $350 million from General Atlantic. PhonePe said the second tranche of investments is part of its target of raising up to $1 billion, which the company announced in December after shifting its headquarters to India from Singapore.
According to some reports, PhonePe is relocating back to India to ensure easier entry into the country’s highly-regulated financial services industry, especially lending.
Founded in 2015 by CEO Sameer Nigam, Husna Nc Engineer, and Rahul Chari, Maharashtra, India-based PhonePe is a UPI-based online payment system that provides a mobile payment app that enables users to transfer money instantly from their smartphones and devices.
Before founding PhonePe, Nigam also worked at Flipkart as the Senior Vice President of Engineering. He started his first company, Mime360, in 2009. The company connects content owners with content creators.
“We offer every Indian an equal opportunity to accelerate their progress by unlocking the flow of money and access to services,” PhonePe says on its website.
