BharatPe valuation jumps to USD 2.85 bn after USD 370 mn fundraise

BharatPe on Wednesday said it has raised USD 370 million (about Rs 2,745.8 crore) in funding, led by Tiger Global that has pushed the merchant payment and lending service provider’s post-money valuation to USD 2.85 billion. The series E round included a secondary component of USD 20 million, a statement said. Staff holding vested employee stock option plan (ESOPs) have been given full liquidity in the secondary, it added.

“The round, led by Tiger Global, also saw new participation from Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital,” the statement said. Five out of the seven existing institutional investors participated in the round – namely Coatue Management, Insight Partners, Sequoia Growth, Ribbit Capital and Amplo, it added. Ashneer Grover has been elevated to Co-founder and Managing Director, while Suhail Sameer has been appointed as the CEO.

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We now have USD 0.5 billion cash on books and are extremely well capitalised to deliver on our mandate to build India’s first truly digital bank. Rarely does one witness the original thesis play out without any pivot,” Grover said. BharatPe will remain maniacally focused on lending as the core business and small merchants as our primary target segment, he added. At BharatPe, we have a high performing team attracted to our focussed execution, growth potential and culture of meritocracy. I am happy to appoint Suhail Sameer as the CEO in recognition of stupendous business growth he has delivered during the last 1 year and his ability to lead from the front,” Grover said.

Sameer will also be part of the board of directors. He will be responsible for the overall Business and Profit and Loss, merchant network expansion, monetisation, lending, banking foray and the brand, the statement said. Grover, who previously served as CEO, will now lead strategy, product, technology, capital (IPO, equity and debt) and drive the overall people agenda for the company. I am sure that with his (Grover’s) continued guidance and focus on building a strong tech and product core, we will be able to scale the business 10x from here. We have the team, capital, technology, brand, product, market and regulatory regime to create an immensely valuable business,” Sameer said.