India-based fintech PhonePe has secured USD 100 million of additional funding in the journey to complete an ongoing USD 1 billion financing round. The new funds from returning backer General Ataltantic bring the total raised since a few months prior to this announcement to USD 750 million.

PhonePe picked up a USD 450 million investment in February 2023 (including USD 350 million from Genral Atlantic), followed in March 2023 by a USD 200 million injection from majority backer Walmart. Founded in December 2015, PhonePe has over 400 million registered users, representing one in four Indians and covering 99% of pin codes in the country, as per the press release. The fundraise follows PhonePe’s recently announced change of domicile to India and full separation from ecommerce giant Flipkart.

The investments value the company at USD 12 billion, making it one of India's most valuable fintech startups. The new funds will be used to develop and scale new financial services businesses including insurance, wealth management, stock trading, lending, and account aggregation. PhonePe in more news In April 2023, PhonePe has launched the shopping app Pincode, built on the Centre’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform.

The app, which will focus on hyperlocal commerce, is downloadable from Google Play and App store. At present, it is only available in Bengaluru city and will soon be launched in other cities. Pincode will connect consumers with their neighbourhood stores and looks to offer the convenience of online ordering, discounts, instant refunds and returns.

The neighbourhood stores, registered on the app, will sell products both from recognised brands and locally manufactured groceries, apparel, footwear, and accessories. As per PhonePe, the app will not only boost the local retailers, but also the entire local ecosystem, including MSMEs and farmers. PhonePe dropped acquisition of ZestMoney The deal, which was poised to fetch anywhere between USD 150-USD 200 million and USD 300 million, has hit a snag over lapses in due diligence, disagreements over valuation, sustainability of the business, and shareholding structure of ZestMoney, according to sources cited by business-standard.

com. The collapse of the deal is also being attributed to a slowdown in the financial technology (fintech) sector in the midst of a funding winter, difficult regulatory environment, and macroeconomic uncertainty, informed other sources. The acquisition was expected to help PhonePe strengthen its lending services and compete with Google Pay, Paytm, and Amazon Pay in Indian fintech, expected to be purportedly worth USD 350 billion by 2026.

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