Financial and payment services unicorn The Walmart-backed business PhonePe is reportedly in discussions to receive a new round of funding from General Atlantic at a valuation of over $12 billion, which would make it the most valuable fintech in India.
One of the individuals mentioned above stated that “General Atlantic is anticipated to lead the round with an investment of $450-$500 million.”
According to a second source, the company’s aspirations to go public are at least 2-3 years away, thus this round is not a pre-IPO. The money raised by PhonePe will be used to advance its plans to develop into a super app for financial services, including everything from payments to insurance to investments to commerce.
If the funding is approved, PhonePe will join companies like Flipkart, which Walmart purchased, Paytm (which went public last year), Byju’s, and Swiggy as a decacorn, or a company valued at over $10 billion. Additionally, Razorpay, a unicorn in the world of digital payments and neobanking, which was most recently valued at roughly $7.5 billion, would be valued lower than PhonePe.
In addition, it will be an unusual instance of a late-stage financing during a startup funding winter when investors are writing smaller checks as they become more cautious in a deteriorating macro climate. When PhonePe was split out by Flipkart into a different company, it was valued at $5.5 billion. Flipkart had contributed $700 million at the time.
The fundraising discussions between PhonePe and its closest rival Paytm occur at a time when public shareholders are raising concerns about the company’s potential to reach company-level profitability. Paytm’s valuation has fallen by more than 60% since it went public in November of last year. The overall market value of Paytm was little under $5 billion as of October 20.
However, Paytm generates a lot more revenue than PhonePe. Paytm and PhonePe each earned revenues of Rs 3,892.40 crore and Rs 1,646 crore, respectively, as of FY22.
