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PhonePe Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors
PhonePe was acquired by Flipkart for $20M in April 2016.
About PhonePe
PhonePe is a Walmart-backed digital payments platform in India and the market leader in UPI transactions, processing billions of transactions monthly and capturing roughly 45-46% market share. Spun off from Flipkart, the platform offers QR code payments, card transactions, and online payments for consumers and merchants, and has expanded into insurance, lending, stockbroking, and wealth management. PhonePe serves hundreds of millions of users across India and has been preparing for an initial public offering.
Founded
2015
HQ
Website
Status
Acquired
Customer focus
B2B & B2C
Revenue model
Commission, Usage-based, Advertising
Revenue
$761M (Oct 2025)
Valuation
$15B (Oct 2025)
PhonePe Acquisition
PhonePe was acquired by Flipkart for $20M on 4 April 2016.
Before the acquisition PhonePe had raised $1.5B across 5 funding rounds.
Flipkart acquired PhonePe in 2016 for $20 million when the payments startup was still in pre-product stage. At the time of acquisition, PhonePe was an early-stage venture with minimal operational history. Following the acquisition, PhonePe grew to become India's leading digital payments platform, eventually becoming so successful that Flipkart and PhonePe completed a full ownership separation in December 2022, with PhonePe relocating its domicile from Singapore to India. By 2023, PhonePe had reached a $12 billion valuation in private funding rounds, making the 2016 acquisition one of the most successful technology acquisitions in Indian startup history.
| Acquirer | Date | Type | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Apr 2016 | Strategic M&A | $20M |
Sources: medianama.com, en.wikipedia.org, vccircle.com
PhonePe Valuation
PhonePe is currently valued at $15B, based on its secondary sale in October 2025. Read the announcement ↗
The $600M round was led by General Atlantic.
PhonePe's valuation has grown 2.6x from $5.5B at its strategic investment round in December 2020 to $15B in October 2025, across 5 priced rounds.
PhonePe valuation by funding round
Revenue multiple| Date | Stage | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | Secondary | $15B | 19.1x |
| May 2023 | Undisclosed stage | $12B | 38.8x |
| Feb 2023 | Undisclosed stage | $12B | 34.4x |
| Jan 2023 | Undisclosed stage | $12B | 34.6x |
| Dec 2020 | Strategic investment | $5.5B | - |
PhonePe Revenue
PhonePe's latest recorded revenue is $761M, as of its secondary sale in October 2025. At a $15B valuation, that implies a 19.1x revenue multiple.
Revenue grew from $357M in January 2023 to $761M in October 2025, while the revenue multiple moved from 34.6x to 19.1x.
PhonePe revenue by funding round
| Date | Revenue * | Valuation | Revenue Multiple | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | $761M | $15B | 19.1x | Secondary |
| May 2023 | $312M | $12B | 38.8x | Undisclosed stage |
| Feb 2023 | $352M | $12B | 34.4x | Undisclosed stage |
| Jan 2023 | $357M | $12B | 34.6x | Undisclosed stage |
* Revenue (or ARR) figures are the values recorded alongside each funding round. Typically run-rate revenue at the time of the deal, or a reported LTM (last 12 months) revenue.
PhonePe Funding History
PhonePe has raised a total of $1.5B across 5 funding rounds, plus 1 secondary share sale.
PhonePe's first fundraising round was a $700M strategic investment round in December 2020. The most recent completed round was a $100M undisclosed-stage round in May 2023.
PhonePe funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | Secondary | General Atlantic (lead) | $600M | $15B | PhonePe is a leading Walmart-backed digital payments platform in India, dominant in UPI transactions with 8.9 billion processed in September 2025, capturing 45-46% market share. It offers QR code payments, card swipes, online transactions, and is expanding into insurance, lending, brokerage, and wealth management. General Atlantic invested $600 million in a secondary transaction in October 2025, valuing PhonePe at $14.5 billion and increasing its stake to approximately 9%. The proceeds primarily covered employee ESOP tax liabilities. PhonePe cofounders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari sold shares worth $430 million to General Atlantic in the deal ahead of the company's IPO. PhonePe reported operating revenue of ₹7,114.8 crore for FY25, up 40% year-on-year, with consolidated net losses narrowing to ₹1,727.4 crore and cash reserves around ₹6,000 crore. For H1 FY26 ended September 2025, revenue reached ₹3,918 crore, up 22% year-on-year, though net loss widened to ₹1,444 crore due to higher expenses. The company has raised prior funding including $850 million in May 2023 at $12.5 billion post-money valuation from Walmart, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and General Atlantic, and $350 million from General Atlantic in January 2023 at $12 billion pre-money valuation. PhonePe filed a confidential DRHP and updated DRHP for an IPO structured as an offer for sale of 50 million shares, targeting $13-15 billion valuation, with partial exits by Walmart and full exits by Microsoft and Tiger Global. PhonePe faces regulatory scrutiny including NPCI's proposed 30% UPI market share cap deferred to end-2026, and restrictions on credit card rent payments and real-money gaming impacting nearly 15% of H1 FY26 revenue. |
| May 2023 | Undisclosed stage | General Atlantic (lead); Ribbit Capital; Tiger Global; TVS Capital Funds | $100M | $12B | PhonePe, a Walmart-backed Indian fintech platform spun off from Flipkart, dominates UPI transactions, processing a significant share alongside Google Pay, in a market handling over 8 billion monthly transactions. In May 2023, it raised $850 million in an ongoing primary funding round from investors including General Atlantic (lead with $350 million plus additional $100 million), Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, TVS Capital Funds, and Walmart ($200 million), at a post-money valuation of $12-12.5 billion, making it India's most valuable fintech ahead of competitors like Paytm ($5 billion valuation). The round, started in January 2023, targeted up to $1 billion total to fuel expansion into insurance, wealth management, lending, stockbroking, shopping, and account aggregators while growing its UPI dominance serving over 460 million users. General Atlantic's investments in this round included an initial $350 million in January at a $12 billion pre-money valuation, followed by tranches in April and May 2023 totaling $550 million from GA alone. PhonePe aimed to leverage the capital for new product launches amid a slowing global economy, positioning itself as India's leading payments app for consumers and merchants with services like bill payments, investments, and insurance. The company has since seen follow-on investments, including General Atlantic's $600 million secondary in 2025 at $14.5 billion valuation to aid employee ESOP taxes ahead of a planned IPO targeting Rs 12,000 crore via offer for sale. |
| Mar 2023 | Strategic investment | Walmart (lead) | $201M | - | PhonePe announced on 17 March 2023 that it had raised $200 million in additional primary capital from Walmart, its majority shareholder, at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion. The investment was the third tranche of a fundraise of up to $1 billion launched after PhonePe completed its ownership separation from Flipkart and moved its domicile from Singapore to India; with this tranche the company had raised $650 million in 2023, following $350 million from General Atlantic in January and $100 million from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and TVS Capital Funds in February. PhonePe said it would use the funds to build and scale new businesses including insurance, wealth management, lending, stockbroking, ONDC-based shopping and account aggregation, and to invest in payments infrastructure. The company was founded in 2015, is headquartered in Bengaluru and was at the time India's largest Unified Payments Interface app, with more than 450 million registered users and about 35 million merchants. Walmart had first become a direct investor in December 2020 when it led a $700 million round at a $5.5 billion valuation. |
| Feb 2023 | Undisclosed stage | Ribbit Capital; General Atlantic; Tiger Global; TVS Capital Funds | $100M | $12B | PhonePe announced on 14 February 2023 that it had raised an additional $100 million in primary capital from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and TVS Capital Funds at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion, the same valuation at which General Atlantic had invested $350 million a month earlier. The tranche formed part of an ongoing fundraise of up to $1 billion that followed PhonePe's full separation from Flipkart in December 2022 and its change of domicile from Singapore to India. The company said the proceeds would fund investment in payments and financial-services infrastructure, including data centres, and the launch of new businesses such as insurance, wealth management and lending. PhonePe was founded in 2015 by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer and is headquartered in Bengaluru. At the time of the round it was India's largest Unified Payments Interface app with more than 450 million registered users and about 35 million merchants on its network. Walmart remained the majority shareholder after the separation from Flipkart. |
| Jan 2023 | Undisclosed stage | General Atlantic (lead) | $350M | $12B | PhonePe, one of India’s largest fintech platforms focused on digital payments via Unified Payments Interface (UPI), raised $350 million in primary funding from General Atlantic on January 19, 2023, at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion. This marked the first tranche of an up to $1 billion fundraise, with additional investors like Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds participating in subsequent $100 million tranches in February and later, maintaining the same $12 billion pre-money valuation. The funding followed PhonePe’s full separation from Flipkart and change of domicile to India, enabling independent growth. The capital was earmarked for significant investments in infrastructure, including data centers, and expansion into new financial services such as insurance, wealth management, and lending. PhonePe aimed to accelerate UPI adoption, including features like UPI Lite and Credit on UPI, to drive financial inclusion across India. General Atlantic highlighted PhonePe’s mission to digitalize payments and broaden access to financial tools via the open API-based India Stack. This 2023 round built on PhonePe’s prior $5.5 billion spin-off valuation in 2020. Subsequent developments included further General Atlantic investments totaling around $550 million across tranches by mid-2023, ahead of later 2025 secondary deals at higher valuations like $14.5 billion and $15 billion targets for an impending IPO, which was filed confidentially as an offer for sale. |
| Dec 2020 | Strategic investment | Walmart (lead); Tencent; Tiger Global | $700M | $5.5B | PhonePe, a Bengaluru-based digital payments company founded by former Flipkart employees, raised $700 million in primary capital in a funding round led by Walmart in December 2020, coinciding with a partial spin-off from Flipkart. The round valued PhonePe at a post-money valuation of $5.5 billion, with Flipkart's stake reducing from 100% to 87%. At the time, PhonePe had surpassed Google Pay and Paytm in UPI transactions for October 2020, boasting over 100 million monthly active users from a total base of 250 million, and had expanded into services like travel bookings, insurance, and mutual funds. The funding aimed to support growth in digital financial services and financial inclusion. Analysts noted PhonePe's reduced reliance on Flipkart (from 50% to less than 1% of transactions) and positioned it as a potential IPO candidate within three years, amid rising competition including WhatsApp's UPI rollout. |
Who has invested in PhonePe?
6 investors have backed PhonePe across its funding rounds, including General Atlantic, Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital, Walmart, TVS Capital Funds and Tencent.
Lead investors include General Atlantic and Walmart.
PhonePe Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Lead | Jan 2023 | ||
| 3 | Participant | Dec 2020 | ||
| 2 | Participant | Feb 2023 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Dec 2020 | ||
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions by PhonePe
PhonePe has acquired 6 companies to date.
Last acquisition by PhonePe was on July 29th 2022. PhonePe acquired Indus OS for $60M.
Latest Acquisitions by PhonePe
| Description | Indus OS is an Android-based regional operating system tailored for first-time internet users in India, supporting native languages to bridge the digital divide. It delivers a simplified smartphone experience through an end-to-end ecosystem focused on cultural and linguistic accessibility. | - | WealthDesk is a Mumbai-based platform enabling investments in curated baskets of stocks, PMS, and AIFs for long-term and short-term portfolios. It provides low-cost access to strategies from SEBI-registered managers like Motilal Oswal. The app features transparent NAV tracking and auto-rebalancing. Launched in 2020, it manages INR 500 crore+ AUM. | GigIndia is an Indian marketplace matching companies with on-demand gig workers for tasks like data entry and customer support. It employs machine learning for task assignment, quality assurance via automated checks, and rapid matching under 24 hours. The platform operates in major cities including Mumbai and Delhi, serving SMEs in IT and e-commerce. | |
| HQ Country | |||||
| HQ City | Mumbai | - | Mumbai | Pune | |
| Deal Date | 29 Jul 2022 | 18 May 2022 | 18 May 2022 | 21 Mar 2022 | |
| Valuation | $60M | $25M | $50M | undisclosed | |
| EV/Revenue | |||||
| EV/EBITDA | |||||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all PhonePe acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | |||||
PhonePe Competitors
PhonePe competitors include listed companies like PicPay, Paytm, Kaspi.kz and Wise, and private ones like Naver Financial Corp. and MTN Group Fintech.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | - | - | $2.3B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $1.1B | $205M | $889M | 0.3x | ||
| Publicly listed | $870M | $42M | $12B | 11.5x | ||
| Publicly listed | $8.9B | $3.1B | $17B | 1.8x | ||
| Publicly listed | $2.7B | $631M | $11B | 3.8x | ||
| Private | $83M | - | $5.3B | 63.5x |
PhonePe Public Comps
PhonePe is no longer listed, but its public comps include Rakuten Bank, Jio Financial Services, Paytm, Chime, Kaspi.kz, Enpara Bank, Wise, PayPay, SoFi and KakaoBank.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $1.1B | - | 14.0x | 10.3x | - | - | |||
| $338M | $277M | 49.6x | 36.0x | 60.6x | - | |||
| $870M | $42M | 14.0x | 11.5x | 293.2x | 108.3x | |||
| $2.2B | ($979M) | 5.5x | 4.4x | (12.3x) | 26.1x | |||
| $8.9B | $3.1B | 1.9x | 1.8x | 5.6x | 4.9x | |||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| $2.7B | $631M | 4.0x | 3.8x | 17.0x | 14.9x | |||
| $2.3B | $733M | 4.3x | 3.5x | 13.8x | 11.0x | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all PhonePe competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about PhonePe
| When was PhonePe founded? | PhonePe was founded in 2015. |
| Where is PhonePe headquartered? | PhonePe is headquartered in Bengaluru, India. |
| Is PhonePe publicly listed? | No, PhonePe was acquired by Flipkart in April 2016. |
| Who acquired PhonePe? | PhonePe was acquired by Flipkart in April 2016. |
| How much was PhonePe acquired for? | PhonePe was acquired for $20M in April 2016. |
| What is PhonePe's valuation? | PhonePe was last valued at $15B in its secondary sale in October 2025. |
| How much funding has PhonePe raised? | PhonePe has raised $1.5B across 5 funding rounds. |
| What was PhonePe's last funding round? | PhonePe's last funding round was a $100M undisclosed-stage round in May 2023, led by General Atlantic. |
| Who are PhonePe's investors? | PhonePe's investors include General Atlantic, Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital, Walmart, TVS Capital Funds and Tencent. |
| What is PhonePe's revenue? | PhonePe's latest recorded revenue is $761M (October 2025). |
| What is PhonePe's revenue multiple? | PhonePe's latest valuation implies a 19.1x revenue multiple ($15B valuation on $761M of revenue). |
| Which companies are comparable to PhonePe? | Companies comparable to PhonePe include Naver Financial Corp., PicPay, Paytm, Kaspi.kz, Wise and MTN Group Fintech. |
| How many companies has PhonePe acquired? | PhonePe has acquired 6 companies, including Indus OS, OpenQ, WealthDesk, GigIndia and Indus App Bazaar. |
| What was the largest acquisition by PhonePe? | The $60M acquisition of Indus OS in July 2022 is the largest acquisition PhonePe has made to date. |
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