PhonePe joins the Decacorn Club and becomes India’s most valuable payments company with a $12 billion valuation.

PhonePe, a Walmart-backed payments company, announced today that it has secured “$350 million from private equity firm General Atlantic at a $12 billion value”, making it the most valuable payments company in India.

According to a PhonePe spokeswoman, a second round of funding from renowned international and Indian entrepreneurs is anticipated to conclude next month.

First-tier foreign and Indian investors may contribute up to $1 billion to the company’s most recent round of fundraising, which includes the investment. With this fundraising round, the domestic digital payments start-valuation up’s has increased by around $5.5 billion in 2020 by more than double. It has become a member of the $12 billion decacorn club.

A Decacorn: What Is It?

A private corporation valued at more than $10 billion is referred to as a decacorn company. Many international tech startups may be found among them.
You’ll see that I said, “private.” Hectocorns and unicorns are likewise affected by this.
When individuals and the media discuss unicorns, they typically bring up a wide range of businesses with valuations of more than $1B, including several publicly traded ones.
When a business becomes public, it ceases to be a hectocorn, decacorn, or unicorn.

List of all Indian decacorns

PhonePe has joined India’s decacorn club, that currently includes four companies—Nykaa, Swiggy, Flipkart, and BYJU’s—with its most recent $12 billion value.

Let’s Checkout all 5 Decacorns:

Swiggy- Following a $700 million investment round headed by Invesco last year, Swiggy has become a decacorn. After that in January 2022, Swiggy’s worth roughly quadrupled to $10.7 billion.

Swiggy is preparing to launch its IPO this year, following the lead of its competitor Zomato, which accomplished so in July 2021.

Nykaa- After making a sensational IPO debut in November 2021, Nykaa’s valuation increased to around $ 13 billion. The business’s worth at the time was Rs 95,437 crore ($12.86 billion), thanks to the 89.2% increase in Nykaa’s share price to Rs 2,129, which helped the company join the decacorn club.

BYJU’s- The now-IPO-bound BYJU’s joined the decacorn club in June 2020 as a result of a fundraising round sponsored by Silicon Valley VC Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital. Byju, a company situated in Bangalore, was valued at $10.5 billion at the time thanks to an estimated $100 million investment.

Flipkart- When Flipkart secured a $500-600 million new funding round, headed by its current significant investors, at the enormous valuation of $10 billion, it had been almost ten years. It’s fair to argue that Flipkart achieved decacorn status at a period when just a small number of businesses were members of the unicorn club.

PhonePe- PhonePe is the most recent to join India’s decacorn list. Founder and CEO Sameer Nigam stated in a statement that PhonePe will utilize the proceeds from the current fundraising, which increased its valuation to $12 billion, for new and existing companies, including insurance, wealth management, and lending.

Although the Indian government recently encouraged the nation’s cash-loving businesses and customers to accept digital payments, it also wants to curb the influence of payments firms, aiming to limit any one firm’s customer base to 30% by the end of 2024.

PhonePe has India’s largest market share

According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), PhonePe has a 46% market share in December. According to a Reuters study, SoftBank-backed Paytm had a 14.7% market share while Google Pay, controlled by Alphabet, had a 34% market share.

Buy-now-pay-later, personal loans, and merchant loans are just a few of the financial services that Paytm, a company with a current valuation of $4.2 billion, has witnessed rapid development.

PhonePe, in which American retail behemoth Walmart acquired a controlling share in 2018, concluded its independence from Indian e-commerce juggernaut Flipkart last year and moved its registered offices from Singapore to India.