Walmart invests $200 mln in Indian fintech PhonePe as part of ongoing funding round

PhonePe, the Indian digital payments company, announced on Friday that it has secured $200 million in funding from Walmart, its majority backer.

The investment was made at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion, as part of PhonePe’s ongoing fundraising campaign that aims to raise up to $1 billion.

PhonePe has already raised $350 million from private equity firm General Atlantic, as well as $100 million from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds over the past two months, all at the same valuation.

Walmart, the American retail giant, which acquired a majority share in PhonePe in 2018, will remain as a majority investor, though the exact stake was not disclosed by the Indian company. PhonePe said that it will use these funds to establish and expand new businesses such as insurance, wealth management, and lending.

PhonePe separated from Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce giant, last year and relocated its registered headquarters from Singapore to India. Walmart covered the nearly $1 billion tax bill for the move.

According to reports, the relocation was meant to make it easier for PhonePe to enter India’s highly-regulated financial services industry, particularly in the area of lending. PhonePe is already India’s most valuable payments firm and is among the country’s most highly-valued startups.