Flipkart Commits $500 Million Investment In PhonePe

by Shrutee K/DNS

One of the largest investment commitments in FinTech space in India

Investment reflects Flipkart’s strong focus and commitment towards FinTech & digital payments

Investment made to help PhonePe rapidly scale up technology, reach and offerings

Mumbai, October 13, 2017: Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce marketplace, announced an investment commitment of $500 million for its group company PhonePe, the fastest growing payments platform in the country. This is one of the largest ever single investment commitments in the Indian FinTech-payments space and is reflective of the opportunities, as well as Flipkart’s keen interest in rapidly scaling up the technology, reach and offerings of PhonePe. The commitment adds to the $75 million funds infusion Flipkart has made in PhonePe since acquiring it in 2015.

The FinTech ecosystem in India, especially payments, is undergoing a paradigm shift with the surge in mobile internet usage, and as vast swathes of people embrace its ease and convenience. Accordingly, market research shows India’s digital payments sector is estimated to grow to $500 billion by 2020 representing around 15 percent of GDP, up from around $50 billion last year.

“FinTech and e-commerce are among the most visible faces of a new digital India that is powered by the youth and technology, and both are set for outstanding growth. PhonePe is a critical part of our overall strategy at Flipkart to build a comprehensive ecosystem for our customers. We’re fully committed to make PhonePe the most preferred digital payments app in India,” said Binny Bansal, Group CEO, Flipkart.

Commenting on the development, Sameer Nigam, Co-founder & CEO, PhonePe said: “The investment will be used to scale up our technology platforms, and expand our merchant network and consumer base rapidly. We have been growing at over 100% every two months this year, and this investment will help us maintain the same aggressive growth rate for the next two years. PhonePe is strongly committed to helping the Indian Government in realizing its Digital India vision, and achieving its target of 25 billion digital payment transactions by next year."

PhonePe, the market leader in UPI payments continues to grow spectacularly with over 16 million transactions on the back of a successful Flipkart Big Billion Days in September 2017. PhonePe’s annual run rate, as a result, touched a new high of $ 3.5 billion in terms of Total Payments Volume (TPV) in September. This ramp up is the fastest in the Indian digital payments space.  

About PhonePe

Bengaluru-headquartered PhonePe is the fastest growing FinTech player in India. With over 45 million installs, the PhonePe App drives the maximum number of UPI transactions in India. Using PhonePe users can send and receive money, recharge Mobile, DTH, Datacards, make utility payments and shop online and offline.

About Flipkart Group

The Flipkart Group is one of India’s largest e-commerce marketplace and includes group companies Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong, PhonePe and eBay.in. Launched in October 2007, Flipkart offers over 80 million products across 80+ categories and is known for pioneering services such as Cash on Delivery, No Cost EMI and easy returns – customer-centric innovations that made online shopping more accessible and affordable for millions of customers.

Together with Myntra and Jabong, which hold prominent positions in the online fashion market, and PhonePe, India’s first UPI based payment app with offerings in nine languages, the Flipkart Group has steered the transformation of commerce in India. eBay.in, an early entrant in the Indian e-commerce space, is the most recent entity to join the Flipkart Group.