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Qatar may take part in Indian payment firms’ $1bn funding drive

By Pramod Kumar
NurPhoto/Niharika Kulkarni
The all-equity round will likely close in the next two weeks

Indian digital payments firm PhonePe is planning to raise up to $1 billion from existing investors, which includes Qatar Investment Authority, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources.

The other investors are General Atlantic, Tiger Global Management and Microsoft Corporation.

The all-equity round will likely close in the next two weeks and may take Walmart-backed PhonePe’s valuation close to $13 billion, the report said.

The company is in talks with SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund, an investor in PhonePe’s parent entity Flipkart, sources said. 

Competition is escalating between PhonePe, Paytm, Alphabet Inc.’s Google Pay and Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Pay, who are looking to capitalise on India’s booming digital economy.

PhonePe is closer to profitability in its core business, the report said, as revenue rose about 140 percent to $200 million. 

A PhonePe Pulse-BCG report released in June said digital payments in India will reach $10 trillion in value by 2026 from the current $3 trillion.

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