The investment is a part of PhonePe’s ongoing fundraise of up to $1bn in capital, following its domicile shift to India last year
Walmart invests $200m in PhonePe. (Credit: Ralph from Pixabay)
Indian mobile payments app PhonePe has secured an additional $200m in primary capital from Walmart, at a pre-money valuation of $12bn.
The new investment follows the $100m secured by the fintech company in primary capital from Ribbit Capital, TVS Capital Funds, and Tiger Global last month.
The investment is a part of PhonePe’s ongoing fundraise of up to $1bn in capital, following its domicile shift to India last year.
PhonePe has raised a total of $650m from various global investors with the new tranche.
PhonePe CEO and founder Sameer Nigam said: “We would like to thank Walmart, our majority investor, for their continued support of our long-term aspirations.
“We are excited about the next phase of our growth as we build new offerings for Indian consumers and merchants, along with enabling financial inclusion across the nation.’’
The mobile payments app intends to utilise the funds for scaling up new businesses like lending, stockbroking, wealth management, open network for digital commerce (ONDC)-based shopping and account aggregators.
Besides, the fundraise is expected to support PhonePe in expediting the next wave of growth for unified payments interface (UPI) payments in India, including UPI lite and Credit on UPI.
Walmart international president and CEO Judith McKenna said: “We are excited about PhonePe’s future and have confidence in how it continues to expand its offerings and provide access to financial services for Indians at scale.
“India is one of the world’s most digital, dynamic and fastest growing economies, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to continue to support PhonePe.”
Established in late 2015, PhonePe claims to have nearly 450 million registered users in India and the company is said to have digitised more than 35 million offline merchants spread across the country.