PhonePe has raised fresh $ 200 million in primary capital from its parent Walmart, at a pre-money valuation of $ 12 billion. This backing comes as a part of PhonePe’s ongoing fundraise of over to $ 1 billion. With this tranche, the company has raised $ 650 million in the ongoing round so far and expects further investments to be announced in due course. PhonePe plans to emplace these finances to make and gauge new businesses like insurance, wealth operation, lending, stockbroking, ONDC-grounded shopping and account aggregators.
The fundraise will also be used to support immolations like UPI Lite and credit on UPI. The USD 12 billion pre-money valuation makes Walmart-possessed PhonePe the most precious fintech in the country, surpassing payment services provider Razorpay which was last valued at USD7.5 billion. “The company expects further investments, which will be announced due course,” the statement said. “PhonePe plans to use these finances to make and gauge new businesses like insurance, wealth operation, lending, stockbroking, ONDC-grounded shopping and account aggregators.” With this tranche, the company has raised $ 650 Mn since the launch of 2023 from several global investors, including Ribbit Capital and General Atlantic.
The fintech unicorn is now anticipated to raise around$ 350 Mn more across tranches in the coming months. In February 2023, the fintech platform reused 351.9 Cr UPI deals 46.71% of all UPI deals in the month – amounting to INR 6.2 Lakh Cr or 50.18% of the total UPI sale value of all deals on the platform during February. The investment from Walmart comes a week after wide media reports said that Flipkart’s co-founder and CEO Binny Bansal was set to invest$ 100-150 Mn in PhonePe, making it one of the largest individual investments in the company. Walmart has been bullish on its two Indian parcels, Flipkart and PhonePe, having reportedly set aside $2.5 Bn for both companies as the ecommerce and fintech titans move towards their separate IPOs