The round would be led by global growth equity investor General Atlantic with an investment of $450 million to $500 million and would give PhonePe a valuation of at least $12 billion, Moneycontrol reported Friday (Oct. 21), citing unnamed sources.
This would make PhonePe India’s most highly valued FinTech, and the company may launch an initial public offering (IPO) in two or three years, according to the report.
A PhonePe spokesperson told PYMNTS via email that the company had no comment. PYMNTS has reached out to General Atlantic for comment.
PhonePe currently offers a mobile payments app that lets users transfer money instantly by just using their mobile number.
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PhonePe is majority-owned by Flipkart, which is owned by Walmart. As PYMNTS reported in August, PhonePe saw its annualized total payments volume surge to $830 billion during the quarter ended in June — up from $770 billion in the previous quarter. In addition, its monthly transaction volume topped 3.1 billion.
See also: Amazon and Walmart Take Last Mile Logistics Battle from Main Street to Mumbai
Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said during an earnings conference call at the time: “I traveled to India last month and was impressed by how Flipkart and PhonePe teams are innovating for the customer and driving growth.”
In May, PhonePe acquired two wealth management firms — WealthDesk and OpenQ — as part of its efforts to create a wealth ecosystem for the PhonePe Group.
Also read: Walmart’s PhonePe Steps up Competition With WealthDesk, OpenQ Buys
As reported at the time, the acquisitions are intended to help PhonePe expand its payments offerings and take on tech rivals like Google, Amazon and Paytm.
