BharatPe raises USD 50 million in funding round led by Ribbit Capital

• The funding round witnessed the participation of Ribbit capital along with Steadview Capital and the other existing investors.
• The funds are expected to be utilized to expand the company’s current merchant base.
• With the second round, the total funding raised by BharatPe amounts to over USD 68 million.

A New Delhi based firm, BharatPe has reportedly raised over USD 50 million funding round headed by Ribbit Capital along with a Hong-Kong based investor, Steadview Capital. Apparently, the current investors of the company Sequoia Capital, Beenext, and Insight Partners were also the participants in the round.

Speaking on the matter, Ashneer Grover, the BharatPe cofounder reportedly stated that the firm plans to organize the funds to expand its existing merchant base of 1.45 million to nearly 5 million in over a year and achieve the capital needs of the offline merchants in the country.

Meanwhile, after the announcement, the company was valued at USD 225 million with the fundraising. As per trusted sources, the firm had raised an amount of over USD 15.5 million in series A funding round from its several existing investors. Combining the series A funding with the recent round, the company’s total funding adds up to over USD 68 million.

For the uninitiated, BharatPe is a merchant-focused payments platform. It offers the merchants a single platform for all the existing UPI applications like the PayTM, PhonePe, BHIM, and others. The platform further allows them to trail their payments, manage sales record and also earn cashbacks. BharatPe relies on QR codes produced as a part of government backed UPI payments facilities.

Reportedly, the firm in May had declared its venture into the lending space with the introduction of short-term credit options for the merchants. Simultaneously, the company provides loans up to INR 1 Lakh at an interest rate of 1.67 per cent monthly.

A statement by the Ashneer cited that the firm encourages over 10 per cent of total UPI merchant exchanges and records for 1 per cent of the overall UPI.

Source credit: https://inc42.com/buzz/payments-platform-bharatpe-raises-50-mn-funding-round-led-by-ribbit-capital/