Flipkart Cofounder Binny Bansal Looking To Invest $100-150 Mn In PhonePe

Binny Bansal, the cofounder of ecommerce giant Flipkart, is said to be in talks to invest around $100-150 Mn in PhonePe as part of the payments major’s ongoing funding round. If Bansal writes that cheque, it would be among the largest individual investments in PhonePe.

According to a source cited by ET, the talks have been ongoing for a while now and are likely to close soon, though the amount is yet to be finalised.

Bansal is also a board member at PhonePe, having played a crucial role in Flipkart’s acquisition of the payments giant back in 2016. Since then, he has been associated with the fintech’s founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari.

PhonePe has raised around $450 Mn in recent weeks across two funding rounds from PE major General Atlantic, Tiger Global and Ribbit Capital, among others. Part of a $1 Bn funding event preceding the fintech giant’s IPO, the recent rounds have taken PhonePe’s valuation to $12 Bn.

The fintech major has emerged as the dominant force in India’s payments segment, competing directly with Google Pay, Paytm, Amazon Pay and WhatsApp Pay, among others on the UPI network.

According to the latest UPI statistics, PhonePe processed 3,802.67 Cr UPI transactions in January 2023, accounting for over 47% of the total transaction count. At the same time, it secured a 50.2% market share in transactions value, having processed transactions worth INR 6.51 Lakh Cr.

The fintech giant recently separated from Flipkart, as the two Walmart-owned businesses gear up for their respective IPOs.

In Q4 2022 earnings call, Walmart CFO John David Rainey said, “To me, this (separation) is very analogous to eBay and PayPal. Each of them can operate independently and pursue their own initiatives. They don’t necessarily need to be tied together. This is an opportunity to unlock and realise more value independently.”

The separation set back Walmart International’s revenue by 65.3% year-on-year, taking it from $800 Mn to $300 Mn in the December quarter.

Binny Bansal’s Many Investments

The Flipkart cofounder is a prolific investor in Indian startups, having backed PhonePe, Curefoods, Acko, Ather Energy, Yulu, Rupeek, Unacademy, Inshorts and Tracxn. Per Inc42 data, Binny Bansal has backed 49 startups since 2014, directly or indirectly.

Most of Bansal’s investments are routed through entities such as Singapore-based Three State Capital, 021 Capital and xto10x Technologies. According to Inc42 data, Binny Bansal and his investment entities have been a part of funding rounds worth $658 Mn between 2014 and February 2023.

Bansal owns around 12-13% in Curefoods, while his stake in insuretech unicorn Acko stands at around 8-9%. He has invested around $25-30 Mn in the former and around $30 Mn in the latter, according to an ET report.

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