Indian fintech major PhonePe has secured an additional $100 million in primary capital as part of an ongoing round. The fintech company announced on Tuesday that it nabbed fresh capital from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds – something that put the pre-money valuation of the Walmart Inc-backed company at $12 billion.
This fresh infusion of capital comes on the heels of the $350 million primary fundraiser that PhonePe closed on January 19 (from General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm). It also takes the total amount secured by PhonePe in recent weeks to $450 million, a significant amount at a time when most startups are struggling to secure funds amidst an economic downturn.
“We are privileged to have a great set of leading global investors, both existing and new, who believe in our mission of building massive technology platforms to bring at-scale financial and digital inclusion in India,” Sameer Nigam, CEO and Founder of PhonePe. “We are excited to continue our partnership with PhonePe as they lead the digital payments sector in India, a market we believe is still in the early stages with significant growth potential ahead,” Scott Shleifer, a Partner at Tiger Global, said in a statement.
Today, PhonePe competes with the likes of Google Pay and Paytm and is one of the market leaders in UPI – processing about 50% of all UPI transactions in the country. The seven-year-old fintech firm already has 44 crore registered users, and successfully covers 99% of pin codes across the country. It is also a market leader in Bharat Bill Pay System (BBPS), processing over 45% of the transactions on the BBPS platform. As per a valuation report filed by PhonePe last month, the firm is expecting to pocket about $504 million for the calendar year 2023.
According to PhonePe, it intends to deploy the capital to scale up its payments and insurance businesses in the country, as well as to enter into new verticals such as lending, stockbroking, ONDC-based shopping, and account aggregators over the next few years.
Going forward, the fintech decacorn anticipates further investments from leading global and renowned high-net-worth Indian investors. “PhonePe lives by the same values as we do at Ribbit. We both believe that better money makes life better. PhonePe’s relentless pursuit of this principle in serving consumers and businesses all across India is a mission to live for,” said Micky Malka, founder, Ribbit Capital.
The fresh infusion of capital falls in line with PhonePe’s previous plans of raising up to $1 billion as part of the ongoing funding round and after the relocation of its headquarters to India from Singapore. It is nearly halfway there, and if it continues in this manner, then reaching the $1 billion mark is simply a matter of time. The pre-money valuation already elevates PhonePe to one of the most highly-valued startups in the world’s second-largest internet market and the most valuable fintech startup in the country.
