PhonePe Raises $200M in Additional Funding from Walmart, Valuation Hits $12B

Bengaluru:

Indian digital payments company PhonePe today said it had raised $200 million from majority backer Walmart Inc for a pre-money valuation of $12 billion.

PhonePe, already India’s most valuable payments company and one of the country’s most highly regarded startups, said the investment is part of its ongoing fundraising of up to $1 billion.

It has raised $350 million from private equity firm General Atlantic and $100 million from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and TVS Capital Funds in the past two months, for the same $12 billion valuation.

U.S. retail giant Walmart, which acquired a majority stake in PhonePe in 2018, will remain a majority investor, the Indian company said, without disclosing its stake.

Despite a funding winter, India’s digital payments space has been a bright spot due to the popularity of online payments and ambitions of startups to venture into the lucrative financial services space.

PhonePe said it plans to deploy the funds to create and grow new businesses, including insurance, wealth management and lending.

PhonePe parted ways with Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart late last year when it also moved its headquarters from Singapore to India, with Walmart picking up the nearly $1 billion tax bill dollars for the move.

The relocation, according to some reports, was aimed at ensuring easier entry into the country’s highly regulated financial services sector, particularly lending.

(Reporting by Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)

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