BharatPe In Talks To Raise Fresh Funding From Steadview Capital

Fintech startup BharatPe is in talks to raise a new funding round from Hong Kong-based Steadview Capital, a source close to the development confirmed to Inc42. However, there is no clarity on the funding amount being raised by the company. 

According to a media report, the amount being raised by the company will be around $75 Mn. 

Earlier in April, BharatPe had raised a $15.5 Mn Series A funding round from Insight Partners, Sequoia, and Beenext. This new round brought the company’s total funding to $17.5 Mn.

In response to an Inc42 query, BharatPe declined to comment on this development.

BharatPe is a merchant focused payments and lending platform. It offers merchants a single interface for all existing UPI apps such as PayTM, PhonePe, Google Pay, BHIM, Mobikwik, Freecharge, TrueCaller among 100 other UPI transaction applications. The platform also enables merchants to track their transactions and settlements, manage sales record and also earn periodic cashbacks.

In May, BharatPe announced its foray into the lending space with the launch of short term credit options for merchants. The company offers loans in the range of INR 10K to INR 1 Lakh at an interest rate of 1.67% per month. The fintech startup had partnered with Apollo Finvest to enable lending on its platform and has plans to add more partners.

The company has reported more than 10 Mn transactions per month and the total amount settled through the platform stood at $400 Mn, according to the latest transaction numbers.

“BharatPe facilitates 10% of overall UPI merchant transactions in the country and accounts for 1% of overall UPI,” Grover said in a media statement earlier this year. 

According to a Credit Suisse report, the Indian digital payment sector is expected to grow five-fold and reach $1 Tn by 2023. While several fintech players are looking to tap into this growing segment, Paytm, PhonePe and Google Pay have been dominating the UPI transactions market.

Further in the lending space, the company competes with players such as Ola, Flipkart and Paytm. Fintech startups such as PerkFinance, Kissht and Shubh Loans are also targeting the unsecured loans sector in India.

The payments platform was cofounded by Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018. The company currently operates in 13 Indian cities. With 7 Lakh active merchant’s base, the company aims to become the utility app for all business needs for over 1 Cr retail merchants.