PhonePe, a Walmart-owned Indian digital payments app, announced on Thursday that it had raised $350 million in a funding round led by private-equity firm General Atlantic at a valuation of $12 billion.
As per Venture Intelligence, funding rounds led by venture capital firms have slowed, with Indian startups raising one-third less last year than in 2021.
Startups have laid off thousands of workers in recent months in order to cut costs and turn a profit.
PhonePe, which was acquired by Walmart Inc in 2018, plans to invest the proceeds in infrastructure and new businesses such as insurance, wealth management, and lending, as per CEO and founder Sameer Nigam.
Last year, the Bengaluru-based payments firm relocated its headquarters from Singapore to India and completed its separation from ecommerce behemoth Flipkart.
