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PhonePe has pulled in $650 million in recent weeks, despite the market slump, beefing up its resources after spinning off from Flipkart. Walmart (WMT), who holds a majority stake in PhonePe, has injected $200 million into the startup, valuing the Bengaluru-based company at a pre-money of $12 billion. The startup has declared its intention to raise up to $1 billion in the current round.
- At a $12 billion valuation, PhonePe is India's most valuable fintech startup, towering over its competitors, Google Pay and Paytm, the latter of which is valued at a mere $5 billion. By capitalizing on the UPI network, built by a coalition of retail banks in India, PhonePe has become the go-to choice for 8 billion transactions every month. In fact, Google's GPay and PhonePe together process over 80% of all UPI transactions – an impressive feat indeed.
Why it matters
Walmart, which holds a majority stake in e-commerce giant Flipkart, stated last month that the split of Flipkart and PhonePe is similar to that of eBay and PayPal, where each can move forward on their own projects. Walmart's investment in PhonePe's new shares is the third section of the fintech firm's current fundraising cycle, which was declared in December of last year following the detachment of ownership from Flipkart.
