BharatPe, India’s leading financial services company for merchants, today announced that it has raised US$ 370 mn in Series E equity round, at a post-money valuation of US$ 2.85 bn. The primary component of the round is US$ 350 Mn and secondary component of US$ 20 Mn. All employees holding vested ESOPs have been given full liquidity in the secondary.
The round, led by Tiger Global, also saw new participation from Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital. Five out of the seven existing institutional investors participated in the round – namely Coatue Management, Insight Partners, Sequoia Growth, Ribbit Capital and Amplo. BharatPe is now amongst the Top 5 most valued Fintech startups in India, and has one of the strongest cap
tables for any start-up in India.
Speaking on the announcement, Ashneer Grover, Co – Founder & Managing Director, BharatPe said, “We are excited to welcome Tiger, Dragoneer and Steadfast to BharatPe, and are glad that our existing investors continue to double down on us in every round. We now have US$ 0.5B cash on books and are extremely well capitalized to deliver on our mandate to build India’s first truly Digital Bank. Rarely does one witness the original thesis play out without any pivot. BharatPe will remain maniacally focused on lending as the core business and small merchants as our primary target segment.”
Ashneer added, “At BharatPe, we have a high performing team attracted to our focussed execution, growth potential and culture of meritocracy. I am happy to appoint Suhail Sameer as the CEO in recognition of stupendous business growth he has delivered during the last 1 year and his ability to lead from the front. I am also honoured to invite him to the Board of Directors.”
Suhail Sameer would be responsible for the overall Business and P&L, Merchant Network Expansion, Monetisation, Lending, Banking Foray and the Brand. Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and CEO, will be elevated to the Co – Founder & Managing Director position and will lead Strategy, Product, Technology, Capital (IPO, Equity & Debt) and drive the overall People agenda for the company.
Suhail Sameer, Chief Executive Officer, BharatPe said “Ashneer has done an unbelievable job against odds, in building BharatPe to a market leader in a small span of 3 years, since inception. I am excited to be stepping in his shoes and taking over the responsibilities of CEO. I am sure that with his continued
guidance and focus on building a strong tech and product core, we will be able to scale the business 10x from here. We have the team, capital, technology, brand, product, market and regulatory regime to create an immensely valuable business. The ball is in our court!”
About BharatPe
BharatPe was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018 with the vision of making financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants. In 2018, BharatPe launched India’s first UPI interoperable QR code, the first zero MDR payment acceptance service. In 2020, post-Covid, BharatPe
also launched India’s only zero MDR card acceptance terminals – BharatSwipe.
Currently serving over 70 lakh merchants across 140+ cities, the company is a leader in UPI offline transactions, processing 11 crores+ UPI transactions per month (annualized Transaction Processed Value of US$ 10+ Bn). The company has already facilitated disbursement of loans totaling to over Rs. 1,800 crores to its merchants, since launch. BharatPe’s POS business processes payments of over Rs. 1,400 crores/ month. BharatPe has raised close to US$ 600 million in equity and debt, till date.
The company’s list of marquee investors includes Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadfast Capital, Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital. In June 2021, the company announced the acquisition of PAYBACK India, the country’s largest
multi-brand loyalty program company with 100 million+ members. In June 2021, it was also given an in-principle approval by Reserve Bank of India to establish a Small Finance Bank, in partnership with Centrum Financial Services Limited (Centrum), the established and profitable NBFC arm of the Centrum Group.
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