PhonePe receives Rs 150 cr capital infusion

Fintech major PhonePe has received about Rs 150 crore from PhonePe Pvt Ltd, Singapore in funding, as per regulatory filings. PhonePe Pvt Ltd, Singapore (formerly Flipkart Payments Pvt Ltd) was allotted 198,755 shares and the total amount paid was Rs 150,00,03,985, according to documents sourced by business intelligence platform Tofler, showed.

The resolution was passed on December 2, it added. PhonePe declined to comment on the fund infusion.

On December 3, Flipkart had announced a 'partial spin-off' of PhonePe. The e-commerce major had said PhonePe is raising USD 700 million (about Rs 5,172 crore) in primary capital at a post-money valuation of USD 5.5 billion from existing Flipkart investors, led by Walmart. Flipkart will own 87 per cent majority share in the hived-off entity with US-retail giant Walmart owning 10 per cent and existing investors, including Tiger Global Management, holding the remaining 3 per cent stake. Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal will join PhonePe's board of directors along with the fintech company's co-founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari, it had said.

PhonePe - which competes with players like Paytm, Google Pay, Amazon Pay and others - was founded by ex-Flipkart executives Nigam, Chari and Burzin Engineer, and was acquired by Flipkart in 2016. In 2018, Flipkart was acquired by Walmart, and PhonePe was also part of the transaction. PhonePe has crossed the 250-million registered users milestone, with over 100 million monthly active users (MAU) generating nearly 1 billion digital payment transactions in October 2020.

During the earnings call last month, Walmart President, CEO and Director C Douglas McMillon had noted the strong performance of its India units. "In India, Flipkart and PhonePe had strong results for the quarter. The number of monthly active customers for these platforms is at an all-time high," he had said.

In February, PhonePe had filed documents with the Corporate Affairs Ministry related to raising about Rs 427.25 crore, while in December last year, it received Rs 585.66 crore from PhonePe Pvt Ltd, Singapore (formerly Flipkart Payments Pvt Ltd).