BharatPe has raised $108 milion as part of its Series D funding round, pegging its value at $900 million just short of the coveted unicorn status, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The company has raised a total of $233 million through equity and $35 million in debt capital till date, it said. BharatPe's war chest has got much bigger with this funding round as it plans to grow its merchant acceptance network and leapfrog its journey from a payments app to a full-fledged bank by acquiring the delinquent Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank, through a joint-venture partnership with the Centrum Group. Earlier last month it raised around $35 million in debt funding, The Series D round was led by Coatue Management with other investors Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital also participating. It raised $90 million primary capital and ensured exit worth $18 million for its angel investors and employees, the company said. "We are super excited to have returned Rs 125 crore of capital to angels and employee stock ownership plan holders, earning them one of the highest returns on investment. The team is committed to make money for all stakeholders – investors, lenders, borrowers, employees and banks. With the balance sheet well capitalized (more than US$ 200M in bank), we are now going to keep our heads down and deliver $30 billion Annual total payment value and build a loan book of $ 700mn with small merchants by March 2023,"…
