▼ Summary
– Tiger Global and Microsoft are fully exiting their stakes in PhonePe via its updated IPO filing, while Walmart retains its majority stake.
– The IPO could raise up to $1.5 billion, targeting a market capitalization of around $15 billion for the company.
– PhonePe, founded in 2015 and later acquired by Flipkart, is a leading Indian fintech offering payments, stockbroking, and an app store.
– It is the largest player in India’s digital payments market, processing more UPI transactions by volume than Google Pay.
– PhonePe’s revenue grew 22% in the first half of the 2025 fiscal year, but its net loss also widened during that period.
The upcoming initial public offering for PhonePe, the prominent Indian digital payments platform, represents a significant liquidity event for its early backers. Tiger Global and Microsoft are set to fully divest their holdings in the company, according to a newly updated IPO filing. This move offers a clear window into how global venture capital investors are seeking exits through India’s burgeoning public markets. While these two major firms cash out, majority shareholder Walmart will retain its controlling stake, opting to sell only a portion of its shares.
An updated draft red herring prospectus filed this week details the share sale. The offer consists of up to 50.66 million shares being sold by existing investors. Tiger Global and Microsoft are offering their entire stakes for sale. In contrast, Walmart, which acquired PhonePe through its purchase of Flipkart, is selling up to 45.9 million shares, representing roughly nine percent of the company. The offer does not include any shares from the company’s founders or current management, indicating the sale is purely investor-driven.
PhonePe is targeting a market valuation of approximately $15 billion through this public offering, which could raise up to $1.5 billion. This marks a notable step up from its last private funding round in January 2023, which valued the fintech at around $12 billion. The company’s journey began in 2015 when it was founded by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer. It was acquired by Flipkart the following year before being formally spun off into a separate entity in late 2022, with Walmart remaining the dominant shareholder.
The platform has grown to become a powerhouse in India’s financial technology sector. Starting as a digital payments service, PhonePe has aggressively expanded its portfolio. It now provides services in stockbroking, mutual fund investments, and even operates its own Android app store as an alternative to Google’s Play Store. Its core business remains exceptionally strong; PhonePe is the largest player in India’s digital payments market by volume, consistently leading the Unified Payments Interface ecosystem. Recent data shows it processed about 9.81 billion transactions in a single month, significantly outpacing key competitor Google Pay.
Financially, the company’s latest figures show robust revenue growth alongside widening losses, a common trajectory for high-growth tech firms scaling operations. For the six-month period ending September 2025, PhonePe’s operational revenue increased by 22% year-over-year to approximately ₹39.19 billion. However, its net loss also expanded during the same period, rising to about ₹14.44 billion from ₹12.03 billion the previous year. This financial profile is a key focal point for investors evaluating the IPO, balancing the company’s massive market reach and growth against its path to future profitability.
(Source: TechCrunch)
