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Walmart-owned fintech major PhonePe has raised $350 million in funding from General Atlantic at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion along with participation from other global and Indian investors.
This investment marks the first tranche of up to $1 billion ongoing funding round that started in January 2023. The fundraise follows PhonePe’s recently announced change of domicile to India and full separation from Flipkart.
PhonePe plans to deploy the new funds in infrastructure, which includes the development of data centers and help build financial services offerings at scale in the country. The company also plans to invest in new businesses, including insurance, wealth management, and lending.
Founded in December 2015, PhonePe has over 400 million registered users, which means that more than one in four Indians are on PhonePe. The company said it has also digitised over 35 million offline merchants spread across Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities and beyond, covering 99 per cent of pin codes in the country.
Also read: Walmart gets $1-billion tax bill for shifting PhonePe headquarters to India
“I would like to thank General Atlantic and all our existing and new investors for the trust they have placed in us. PhonePe is proud to help lead India’s country-wide digitisation efforts and believes that this powerful public-private collaboration has made the Indian digital ecosystem a global exemplar. We are an Indian company, built by Indians, and our latest fundraise will help us further accelerate the Government of India’s vision of digital financial inclusion for all,” said Sameer Nigam, Founder and CEO at PhonePe.
“Sameer, Rahul and the PhonePe management team have pursued a clear mission to drive payments digitalisation and significantly broaden access to financial tools for the people of India. They remain focused on driving adoption of inclusive products developed on the open API based ‘India stack.’ This vision is aligned with General Atlantic’s longstanding commitment to backing high-growth businesses focused on inclusion and empowerment,” said Shantanu Rastogi, Managing Director and Head of India at General Atlantic.
PhonePe recently announced a full separation from the Flipkart Group. After a partial separation from Flipkart in December 2020, a number of Flipkart shareholders, led by Walmart, acquired shares in the recent separation.
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