PhonePe raises $600 million from General Atlantic at $14.5 billion valuation ahead of IPO: Report

US private equity firm General Atlantic has invested $600 million in PhonePe, valuing the Walmart-backed firm at about $14.5 billion ahead of its planned listing early next year, the Economic Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The investment marks General Atlantic’s largest single-company bet in India, surpassing its $870 million investment in Reliance Jio Platforms in 2020.

The latest funding, which coincides with PhonePe’s confidential filing of a draft red herring prospectus for its initial public offering, comes at a 16% premium to its last fundraising round in 2023, when it was valued at $12.5 billion, according to ET.

Since 2023, General Atlantic has invested about $550 million in PhonePe across multiple tranches, the report said. With the latest infusion, the Bengaluru-based company has raised roughly $1.6 billion over four major funding rounds.

PhonePe, originally part of Walmart’s Indian e-commerce unit Flipkart, was spun off in 2020 at a valuation of $5.5 billion.

It now dominates India’s unified payments interface (UPI) market, handling 8.9 billion transactions in September 2025 and accounting for more than 45% of the market, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

The company has been diversifying beyond payments into lending, insurance, and stockbroking.

In the financial year ended March 2025, PhonePe reported a 40% rise in revenue to ₹7,115 crore and a narrower net loss of ₹1,727.4 crore.

PhonePe recorded a threefold growth in its adjusted profit after tax to ₹630 crore in the financial year ending March 31, 2025, from ₹197 crore in the previous year.

The Walmart group company turned free cash flow positive in the fiscal year 2025, with net cash flow from operations reaching ₹1,202 crore.

The company's total expenses rose 21% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹9,394 crore in FY25.

PhonePe’s biggest rival, Paytm parent One97 Communications Ltd, went public in 2021 and currently has a market capitalisation of about $9.4 billion.