India-based fintech platform PhonePe has secured USD 200 million in primary capital from retail corporation Walmart , at a pre-money valuation of USD 12 billion. As per the information detailed in the announcement, the additional funding comes as part of the company’s ongoing fundraising of up to USD 1 billion, following its domicile move to India in December 2022.

With this tranche, PhonePe has raised USD 650 million from a number of global investors and the company expects further investments, which are set to be announced ‘in due course’. PhonePe’s strategy and plans for the new capital The announcement details that, following the receipt of this capital, PhonePe plans to have the funds deployed towards building and scaling new businesses of the likes of insurance, wealth management, lending, stockbroking, and ONDC-based shopping (Open Network for Digital Commerce) and account aggregators. What is more, the company believes the funding is set to help it with its mission of ‘turbo-charging the next wave of growth’ of UPI payments in India, together with UPI lite and Credit on UPI.

Commenting on the news, Sameer Nigam, CEO and founder of PhonePe showcased appreciation towards Walmart, the company’s majority investor, for their ongoing support of PhonePe’s long-term aspirations. As per their statement, the company is looking forward to the next phase of its growth strategy, looking to build new offerings for India-based consumers and merchants alike, alongside enabling financial inclusion throughout the region. Adding on the investment announcement, president and CEO of Walmart International Judith McKenna advised that the enterprise is ‘excited about PhonePe’s future’ and is confident in how it goes about expanding its offering and providing access to financial services for Indians at scale.

The spokesperson stated that as India is among the world’s most digital, dynamic, and fastest-growing economies, the company is ‘pleased’ to have the opportunity to continue its support of PhonePe. PhonePe offering and recent developments Founded in December 2015, the company emerged as one of the largest fintech platforms in India, looking to enable digital inclusion for both merchants and consumers, and entered the financial services market in 2017, providing users with investing options on its platform in a safe and convenient manner. The company has since introduced a series of mutual funds and insurance products that aim to provide India-based users with an equal opportunity for unlocking the flow of money and access to services.

As part of its development strategy, the company announced early in February 2023 that it had launched a feature aimed at enabling users to carry out cross-border payments via UPI. As confirmed by the company at the time of the announcement, support for UPI international payments was set to be extended to the regions of the UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal, and Bhutan, with users being able to make payments in foreign currency directly from their Indian bank. At the end of January 2023, PhonePe made public the receipt of USD 350 million from General Atlantic, which marked the first tranche of its ongoing USD 1 billion funding round.

The capital raised at the time was announced to be planned for investments into infrastructure, together with the development of data centres for PhonePe. .