PhonePe Raises Over Rs. 254 Crores From Flipkart Payments

PhonePe, the digital payments arm of e-commerce giant Flipkart, has raised over Rs. 254 crores from Singapore-based Flipkart Payments, according to documents filed with the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

According to the documents, Flipkart Payments has been allotted 17.60 lakh shares of face value of Rs. 10 each, at a higher premium of about Rs. 1,435 each, aggregating to Rs 254.43 crore on a rights basis.

The resolution to this effect was passed at the meeting of board of directors of PhonePe on August 30, 2017, it added.

Previously, PhonePe had received Rs. 83.68 crores in October, 2016 through allocation of 41.84 lakh shares at a premium of Rs. 190 per share.

Formerly known as FX Mart Private Ltd, PhonePe competes with the likes of Amazon Pay, Paytm and MobiKwik.

The new round of funding will help PhonePe strengthen its position in the market at a time when digital transactions are becoming a popular mode of payment.

PhonePe had stated that it drove 45 percent of all UPI transactions in August (at 7.47 million) this year, and had seen 66 percent growth in volume of transactions over the previous month.

The funding in PhonePe comes after Flipkart had received $2.5 billion from investors like SoftBank early in the year. Flipkart had also raised $1.4 billion from Microsoft, Tencent and eBay Inc in April this year.

Disclosure: Paytm's parent company One97 is an investor in Gadgets 360.