Digital payments firm BharatPe raised $370 million (Rs 2,775 crore) from investors at a valuation of $2.85 billion (Rs 21,375 crore).
Three investors, Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital entered BharatPe's list of investors through this fundraise. Of its existing institutional investors, five participated in the fundraise, the company said on Wednesday.
The primary component of the round is $350 million (Rs 2,625 crore) and secondary component of $20 million (Rs 150 crore), the company said. All employees holding vested stock options have been given full liquidity in the secondary, it said.
The company now has $500 million (Rs 3,750 crore) cash on its books, Ashneer Grover, founder and managing director, BharatPe, said in the release.
"BharatPe will remain maniacally focused on lending as the core business and small merchants as our primary target segment,” Grover said in the release.
A consortium of BharatPe and Centrum Group has been granted an in-principle approval by the Reserve Bank of India to open a small finance bank, which will take over the assets and liabilities of Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank. This is part of the RBI's plan to rescue the cooperative lender which collapsed in September 2019.
Both investors have agreed to invest Rs 900 crore each into the small finance bank.
As part of the announcement, Grover said Suhail Sameer, group president, will be elevated to CEO of BharatPe. He will also become part of the company's board of directors.
Sameer would be responsible for the overall business, merchant network expansion, monetisation, lending, banking foray and the brand, the statement said. Grover, who is currently CEO, will be elevated to the co–founder and MD position and will lead strategy, product, technology, capital (IPO, equity and debt) and drive the overall people agenda for the company, it said.
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