PhonePe raises ₹150 crore from Singapore parent

PhonePe has raised ₹150 crore ($21 million) from its Singapore-based parent entity, two weeks after its majority shareholder Flipkart announced that it would partially hive-off the digital payments company into a separate entity. PhonePe plans to list its shares on Indian stock exchanges in the next few years.

PhonePe recently said it was raising $700 million from a clutch of investors, including Flipkart and others. The recent fund raise from Flipkart is independent of the proposed $700 million fund raise, which will value the company at $5.5 billion. Flipkart has an 87% shareholding in PhonePe post the partial hive-off. Post the fund raise, Flipkart will remain the majority shareholder in the payments firm, with Walmart owning 10% and other minority shareholders owning a 3% stake.

According to regulatory filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs reviewed by MediaNama, PhonePe Pvt Ltd in India received ₹150 crore from PhonePe Pte Ltd, based in Singapore, in return for over 198,000 shares worth ₹7,537 each. The board resolution was passed on December 2, the filings said.

“This partial spin-off gives PhonePe access to dedicated long-term capital to pursue our vision of providing financial inclusion to a billion Indians,” Sameer Nigam, chief executive officer, PhonePe said in a statement on December 2. The hiving of PhonePe will also allow it to constitute a new Board of Directors and create a tailor-made Employee Stock Ownership Plan program for its employees, a statement from the company said.

With nearly 250 million users, PhonePe has a 40% market share in the Unified Payments Interface ecosystem as of November 2020, processing 864 million transactions worth ₹1.75 lakh crore. The company plans to expand its presence in the tier-5 and beyond markets in India over the next year.

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