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New Delhi [India], January 23 (ANI): Following the recent approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), PhonePe has submitted its Updated Draft Red Herring Prospectus (UDRHP), moving closer to its highly anticipated public listing. The company, which initially filed confidential IPO papers in September 2024, is now expected to debut on the markets soon.
As per the UDRHP, the public offering will be an offer for sale, led by majority shareholder Walmart alongside other prominent investors such as Tiger Global and Microsoft.
PhonePe dominates India's UPI landscape with more than 48 per cent market share by value, processing 9.8 billion transactions in December alone, according to recent data from the NPCI. The company has posted rapidly growing revenues with diversified revenue streams in recent years while steadily improving its financial performance.
Beyond its core payments business, PhonePe has successfully diversified into lending and insurance distribution verticals that have scaled to represent 10 per cent of its total revenue in just three years. This strategic expansion has been a key driver of the company's revenue growth and its increasingly maturing financial profile.
Launched in 2016, PhonePe was India's first UPI-based payments app from a non-bank fintech company. The company has evolved from a payments application into a diversified technology firm and operates across consumer and merchant payment businesses, where it leads across both the axis.
Over the years, PhonePe has scaled into a full-stack financial services platform--offering insurance and lending distribution--and has ventured into mutual funds and stock broking through its Share Market platform. This diversification strategy is further evidenced by its entry into the software infrastructure space with Indus Appstore, India's homegrown Android app marketplace.
With consistent year-on-year revenue gains, PhonePe is one of the few consumer internet companies that has shown diversified growth.
Based on the DRHP filed by the company, PhonePe recorded Rs 7,115 crore in revenue, reflecting a strong 40 per cent year-on-year growth. This was accompanied by the company turning free cash flow positive with cash flow from operations amounting to Rs 1,202 crore. PhonePe continued to improve its bottom line, with Adjusted EBITDA (excluding ESOP costs) more than doubling to Rs 1,477 crore (from Rs 652 crore in the prior year), and Adjusted PAT (excluding ESOP costs) more than tripling to Rs 630 crore (from Rs 197 crore in the prior year). The company also recorded positive Adjusted EBIT (excluding ESOP costs) for the first time at Rs 117 crore.
The improved profitability signals enhanced operational discipline and a maturing cost structure.
PhonePe boasts a marquee investor roster with Walmart holding a majority stake. Other prominent backers include General Atlantic, Ribbit Capital, TVS Capital, Tiger Global, Microsoft, and Qatar Investment Authority.
Following SEBI's approval, companies typically list in a 90-day window, and PhonePe is anticipated to list within the next few months.
Walmart, PhonePe's largest shareholder, will be offloading 9 per cent of its stake as part of the IPO, while Tiger Global will sell 0.2 per cent and Microsoft 0.7 per cent. Interestingly, General Atlantic previously invested USD 600 million in PhonePe in a secondary round in September 2025, effectively doubling down on its initial USD 500 million investment. This brings General Atlantic's total investment in PhonePe to approximately USD 1.15 billion across multiple rounds, increasing its stake to 8.9 per cent.
During this transaction, the founders and employees exercised all their vested options and sold 40 per cent of their vested ESOPs solely to cover the tax liabilities arising from the ESOPs. Neither the employees nor the founders received any liquidity from the transaction. Sources indicate that Walmart is selling only the minimum stake required to meet SEBI's public listing requirements. This demonstrates strong confidence in the business from both the founders and investors, with the majority of investors choosing to remain invested in the company. (ANI)