Walmart-Backed PhonePe Charges Toward $1.5B Indian IPO – Fintech’s Next Big Play?

India's digital payments race just got hotter. PhonePe—the Walmart-owned fintech giant—is gearing up for a blockbuster $1.5 billion IPO, signaling a bold bet on the country's booming digital economy.

Why this matters: With UPI transactions smashing records monthly, PhonePe's move could redefine India's fintech landscape—and give rivals like Paytm sleepless nights.

The cynical take: Another 'disruptor' cashing out via traditional finance. How very Web2 of them.

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Summer Listing

According to a report by Bloomberg, the company, in which the U.S. retail giant holds a majority share, is readying preliminary documents for a listing in India as soon as this August. This WOULD value PhonePe at around $15 billion.

As reported by the Economic Times, the company has chosen banks including Kotak Mahindra Capital Co., JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (CITI) and Morgan Stanley (MS).

PhonePe has more than 610 million registered users and handles 340 million rupees worth of transactions per day. The company raised $100 million in February 2023, valuing it at $12 billion. Walmart helped the company raise another $200 million weeks later.

PhonePe was founded in 2015 and is now the largest payments platform in India. According to research by PYMNTS Intelligence, digital wallets are becoming increasingly popular in India – the world’s most populous country with 1.4 billion people.

Wallet Growth

Digital wallets are the preferred payment method for 55% of retail purchases in the country, boosted by a more affluent population, a growing middle class, and the embracing of technology.

The growth has also been helped by the Indian government’s push for digital transactions.

PhonePe had been part of Flipkart, an Indian-based e-commerce group that is also majority-owned by Walmart.

The U.S. retailer is also eyeing up growth for Flipkart as digital and online demand increases. Flipkart is also expected to file for an IPO in India sometime next year. Although, this has been mooted now for a number of years.

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