PhonePe Rings the Bell—$1.5 Billion IPO Call Incoming

Image Source: TV9 Bharatvarsh

PhonePe, the fintech division of Walmart Inc., will raise $1.5 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) in India, according to Bloomberg News. Successful, this would be among the largest fintech IPOs in the country's history and further solidify PhonePe's status as a digital payments leader.

1. IPO Aspirations & Market Timings

The IPO will place the value of PhonePe at around $10–12 billion, with the firm eyeing listing on Indian exchanges in early 2026.
The move comes as PhonePe celebrates its 10-year anniversary and solidifies its 47.67% market share of UPI transactions through January 2025.
The company has already made IPO moves, having redomiciled from Singapore to India in 2022 and having restructured its business into multiple subsidiaries.

2. Financial Performance & Growth

PhonePe's FY24 revenue surged 73.8% to ₹5,064 crore, while net losses decreased to ₹1,996 crore from ₹2,795 crore in FY23.
The platform now has over 590 million registered users and a merchant network of 40 million+, India's largest UPI player.
Walmart CFO John David Rainey recently mentioned PhonePe's $1.3 trillion in Total Payment Value (TPV) as comparable to top global fintechs.

3. Strategic Context

The IPO will be followed by fintech competitors like Paytm and MobiKwik. The step will help PhonePe fund its expansion in lending, insurance, and app development.

The company has already launched the Indus Appstore Developer Platform to compete with Google Play and Apple's App Store.

Sources: Business Standard, Startup Story, Economic Times