Walmart-Owned PhonePe Planning IPO At $8-10 Billion Valuation; Can Become 100% Make In India Company

In order to expand its financial services portfolio and deepen its core United Payments Interface (UPI)-based payments operations, part of the Walmart Inc-controlled Flipkart group, PhonePe, is considering raising funds through an initial public offering (IPO), said sources on Wednesday.

PhonePe IPO

It appears that the digital payment company is seeking a valuation of $8-10 billion, sources said.

As per the plan, the payments firm will soon engage with bankers and legal consultants to take forward the IPO process.

Besides this, the company has also initiated its plans to move its registered holding entity from Singapore to India, underlining its ‘made in India’ credentials. 

Sources said that PhonePe’s board has ratified the proposal to move the holding company to India.

PhonePe Plans To Go Public

With this move, the company will be listed on Indian stock exchanges.

The move is opposed by many startups as they prefer to incorporate overseas, primarily Singapore or the US, chasing relatively friendlier tax laws and business regulations there.

Founded by ex-Flipkart executives Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer, lateron it was acquired by Flipkart in 2016. 

After that during 2018, Flipkart was acquired by Walmart, and PhonePe became a part of this transaction as well.

The investment banking sources mentioned about the company’s plan to go public once its core businesses turn profitable, hoping to be achieved by 2023.

Ongoing Hiring

Apart from this, PhonePe is also planning to increase its workforce strength to 5,200 by the end of December to ride on the growing UPI-based transactions in India.

Presently, the company has 2,600 employees and 2,800 open job positions across cities such as Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi.

The payments firm currently holds a mutual fund distribution license.

Further, it will be adding stocks and exchange traded funds to its growing list of wealth management products.