The leading financial services company for merchants BharatPe has raised $370 million in a Series E equity round, at a post-money valuation of $2.85 billion. The primary component of the round is $350 million and the secondary component is of $20 million.
The funding makes Delhi-based BharatPe the latest entrant to the coveted unicorn club. It was valued at about $900 million in its Series D round in February this year, and $425 million last year. Unicorns are privately held companies that are valued at $1 billion or more.
The new round, led by Tiger Global, also saw new participation from Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital. Five out of the 7 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. The funding would help the firm compete and take on players such as Pine Labs, Paytm and Mswipe.
“We now have $0.5 billion cash on books and are extremely well-capitalised to deliver on our mandate to build India’s first truly digital bank”, said Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and MD, BharatPe. “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,” he said.
On the back of the new financing, BharatPe has elevated Suhail Sameer as the company’s CEO. Sameer had joined BharatPe as group president last year. In his new role, Sameer would be responsible for the overall business, merchant network expansion, monetization, lending, banking foray and the brand.
Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and CEO, BharatPe, will transition into the role of Managing Director.
