The ongoing round values the India-based startup at USD 12 billion. PhonePe is eyeing to raise as much as another USD 150 million in the ongoing round. General Atlantic invested another USD 100 million in PhonePe in April 2023.
PhonePe, which completed a full separation from Flipkart in 2023, handles transactions on UPI, a network built by a coalition of retail banks in India. UPI is one of the most popular way Indians transact online — it processes more than 8 billion transactions a month. Google’s GPay and PhonePe currently process more than 80% of all UPI transactions. PhonePe commands about 50% of these transactions. The company said earlier in 2023 that it was on pace to process transactions worth USD 1 trillion annually.
Walmart, which also owns a majority share in ecommerce giant Flipkart, said that the separation of Flipkart and PhonePe was ‘very analogous to eBay and PayPal, where each of them operating independently can pursue their own initiatives.’
The new investment comes at a time when PhonePe is aggressively expanding its product offerings. The startup earlier this year launched a hyperlocal commerce app, called Pincode, that is powered by the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), an Indian government initiative striving to democratise the ecommerce landscape by offering a zero-commission platform.
PhonePe said it will ‘invest significant effort’ in Pincode and in ‘enabling every Indian shopkeeper spread across every nook and corner, over the next few years.’
PhonePe is looking to capitalize on its 450 million-strong registered user base by expanding into addition,al financial services, including wealth management, lending, stockbroking, ONDC-based shopping and account aggregation.
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