Fintech unicorn PhonePe has separated from its parent company and e-commerce giant, Flipkart, according to a joint announcement by both the companies. The statement announced the full ownership separation of PhonePe. Both the companies will function as separate entities with Walmart continuing to be the majority stakeholder in them.
“As part of this transaction, existing Flipkart Singapore and PhonePe Singapore shareholders, led by Walmart, have purchased shares directly in PhonePe India. This also completes the move to make PhonePe a fully India-domiciled company, a process that started earlier this year,” the statement revealed.
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PhonePe was founded by ex-Flipkart executives Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer, and was acquired by the Sachin and Binny Bansal-founded company in 2016. In 2018 Flipkart was acquired by Walmart, and PhonePe was part of the transaction as well. The digital payments company was Flipkart’s third major acquisition in the space after NGPay and FX Mart Pvt. Ltd at that point in time.
Phonepe
Sameer Nigam, Founder and CEO at PhonePe, said: “Flipkart and PhonePe are proud, homegrown Indian brands with a user base upwards of 400 million each. We are looking forward to the next phase of our growth as we invest in new businesses – like insurance, wealth management and lending, while also enabling the next wave of growth for UPI payments in India. This will help propel our vision to provide billions of Indians with financial inclusion.”
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Filpkart
Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart Group, said: “The Flipkart Group has developed many successful entrepreneurs and seen impactful businesses started by former employees. We are proud to see PhonePe grow and thrive as a successful organization in its own right. We are confident PhonePe will continue to scale and achieve its vision of providing financial inclusion to millions of Indians. Flipkart stays committed to its purpose to empower every Indian’s dream by delivering value through innovation in technology and commerce while helping small businesses connect to pan-India markets.”