Phonepe is Planning for an IPO and Aims to be Valued at $8 to $10 Billion.

According to sources in the investment banking industry, PhonePe, a unit of the Walmart Inc.-controlled Flipkart group, is thinking about raising capital through an initial public offering to enhance its core United Payments Interface (UPI)-based payments activities.

Additionally, to further establish its “made in India” credentials, the company has started planning to relocate its registered holding organization from Singapore to India. The plan to relocate the holding company to India has already been approved by PhonePe’s board.

Instead of many businesses choosing to register abroad, notably in Singapore or the US, in search of comparably easier tax rules and business restrictions there, the company will list on Indian stock exchanges. Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer—all former executives at Flipkart—founded PhonePe, which Flipkart acquired in 2016. Walmart acquired Flipkart in 2018; PhonePe was also acquired as part of the deal.

When its primary businesses become profitable, which it intends to do by 2023, the company plans to go public, according to sources in investment banking. To capitalize on the expanding UPI-based transactions in India, PhonePe also wants to increase its headcount to 5,200 by the end of December.

In locations like Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, and Delhi, the organization has 2,600 employees and 2,800 unfilled vacancies.

At a valuation of $5.5 billion, PhonePe’s most recent $700 million fundraising round was backed by its backers Flipkart and Walmart. Tiger Global Management and Tencent are among the investors in the digital payment startup, which has raised a total of $1.7 billion in funding across 13 rounds.

In addition to purchasing three businesses—WealthDesk, OpenQ, and GigIndia—the company has also sought for mutual fund and NBFC licences. With a 47% market share in monthly transactions, PhonePe dominates the UPI industry.

PhonePe is planning for an IPO and wants to be valued at $8 to $10 billion.

PhonePe now maintains a mutual fund distribution license and will soon be expanding its lineup of wealth management solutions to include stocks and exchange traded funds.

It made the announcement that it would introduce a UPI SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) for gold investments. Users will be able to make a set monthly investment in high purity 24K gold. Insured bank-grade lockers that are kept by MMTC-PAMP and SafeGold can be used to store gold.

With real-time transactions in the retail and food delivery sectors beginning in some locations, PhonePe was also merging its operations with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) trial, India’s homegrown open source e-commerce network.

In several places, like Delhi and Shillong, real-time transactions in the retail and food delivery sectors have begun. At the moment, ONDC is concentrating more on eateries and stores. Zomato, CarTrade, Nykaa, Paytm, and PolicyBazaar are just a few of the recent internet-based companies to launch their initial public offerings (IPOs).