Walmart-backed PhonePe is targeting a $9–$10.5 billion valuation for its IPO, a significant cut from its $12 billion private market valuation in 2023. Walmart will trim its stake by 12%, while Tiger Global and Microsoft plan full exits. The listing, targeting April, could raise up to $1.05 billion.
IPO-bound PhonePe targets $9-10.5 billion valuation, aims to list by April: Report
Walmart-backed PhonePe is aiming to list at a valuation of $9-10.5 billion, a Reuters report stated, citing sources. At the current valuation, PhonePay will raise about $900 million to $1.05 billion via the IPO. But even at the top end, the deal would mark a cut from the $12 billion valuation at which PhonePe last raised $100 million in private markets in 2023.
As per the report, Walmart will trim its stake in PhonePe by about 12% in the fintech’s initial public offering, while investors such as Tiger Global and Microsoft plan to exit their stakes. Combinedly, the three firms will sell around 50.7 million shares in the offering, and PhonePe will not issue any new shares, the report added.
Financialexpress.com could not verify the news independently
PhonePay listing by April
The report added that PhonePe, which competes with Google Pay and Paytm in India, filed for its IPO in September and aims to complete the process by April. However, the IPO timeline could shift depending on capital market conditions, including any impact from the Middle East conflict.
PhonePe’s listing would make it India’s second-largest fintech IPO, behind Paytm’s about $20 billion listing in 2021.
Paytm currently trades at a market capitalisation of $7.1 billion.
PhonePay revenue and losses
PhonePe has more than 650 million registered users and processed nearly 10 billion of the 21.7 billion transactions on India’s unified payments interface (UPI) in January, regulatory data showed. But payments in India remain a low-margin business.
PhonePe’s IPO filings show that its losses widened to Rs 14.44 billion ($158 million) in the six months ended September 30, from Rs 12.03 billion a year ago, while revenue rose about 22 per cent to Rs 39.18 billion.
Investment experts said excitement around the country’s fintech sector had cooled and that there were lingering questions around PhonePe’s ability to monetise its user base – a key reason it may not achieve a valuation closer to its last funding round.
