Flipkart has acquired PhonePe, a Bangalore based mobile payments start-up for an undisclosed sum.
PhonePe has been co-founded by ex-Flipkart employees Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari in December last year. The start-up is building India’s first Unified Payments Interface (UPI) based product that is said to go live in April.
It will allow users to transact using their unique identification and mobile phone number or virtual payments address without sharing any other bank details. This is unlike the present payments process, which involves entering various account/card details and multi-level interventions. Anyone holding an active bank account can easily perform instant transactions by simply using their mobile phone.
Flipkart said in a statement the PhonePe team will transition to Flipkart but will function as an independent business unit. In September last year, it acquired FX Mart while earlier this month, it rolled out Flipkart Money Wallet. The company announced this week that it has more than 75 million registered customers.
Binny Bansal, CEO, Flipkart, said,
Payments has been one of the biggest hurdles for mass adoption of online shopping in India. UPI has the potential of transforming the entire payments ecosystem in the country. The acquisition of PhonePe is in-line with Flipkart’s focus on driving innovation on the payments front. I am delighted that two Flipkart veterans – Sameer and Rahul are at the helm of this initiative.
Sameer Nigam, Co-founder, PhonePe said,
PhonePe’s mission is to significantly improve the online and offline digital payments experience for millions of Indian customers. We are really excited to merge with Flipkart and get access to one of the largest consumer bases in the country, which will allow us to realize our vision at a much larger scale