India’s fintech startup PhonePe has raised $350 million in funding from General Atlantic at a $12 billion valuation. With this, the company became India’s most valuable payments firm.
According to a Reuters report, a second tranche of investments from marquee investors, both from the country and abroad, is expected to close in February. The report, citing founder and chief executive Sameer Nigam, added that PhonePe plans to deploy funds for infrastructure and new businesses, including insurance, wealth management, and lending.
PhonePe accounts for nearly half of total united payments interface, or UPI, transactions in December. According to data issued by the National Payments Corporation of India data, PhonePe had a 46% market share last month, while its rivals Google Pay and Paytm had 34% and 14.7% market shares respectively.
The American multinational retail giant Walmart purchased a controlling stake in the Indian company in 2018. The startup was acquired by Indian e-commerce major Flipkart in 2016, but the two firms completed the separation process last year. The company relocated its headquarters from Singapore to India last year.
