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PhonePe puts IPO on hold as Iran–Israel–US war rattles public markets

EntrackrEntrackr · 19h ago
PhonePe puts IPO on hold as Iran–Israel–US war rattles public markets
Medial

PhonePe puts IPO on hold as Iran–Israel–US war rattles public markets Digital payments platform PhonePe has temporarily paused its initial public offering (IPO) plans due to ongoing geopolitical tensions and volatility in global financial markets. In a press statement on Monday, the company said it has deferred its public market listing process and will resume the IPO once stability returns to global capital markets. PhonePe’s IPO delay comes amid tensions involving Iran, the US, and Israel, which have increased volatility in global markets and affected investor sentiment, prompting several IPO-bound companies to delay their listings. PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam said the company remains committed to going public in India despite the temporary pause. He also expressed hope for a quick resolution to the ongoing Iran–Israel–US conflict. Founded in 2016, PhonePe is one of India’s largest digital payments platforms, with over 650 million registered users and a merchant network of more than 47 million. In February, it led UPI among third-party apps with 9.28 billion transactions worth Rs 13,10,392.95 crore, holding a 45.5% share by volume and 48.8% by value. Earlier this year in January, PhonePe filed its updated DRHP with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise around Rs 12,000 crore (approximately $1.5 billion) through an IPO. According to multiple media reports, the company was targeting a valuation of around $10.5 billion. Notably, in October last year, General Atlantic invested $600 million in PhonePe at a valuation of roughly $14.5 billion. The decision to hold the IPO comes amid heightened market volatility, which could potentially impact the company’s valuation. PhonePe’s largest shareholder Walmart may prefer to avoid listing under uncertain market conditions that could compress its valuation. While PhonePe may be a relatively small bet for Walmart, the company’s valuation remains crucial for the fintech firm, making the timing of its public market debut an important factor.

PhonePe acquires GSPay IP from GupShup for UPI on feature phones

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
PhonePe acquires GSPay IP from GupShup for UPI on feature phones
Medial

PhonePe acquires GSPay IP from GupShup for UPI on feature phones PhonePe has announced an IP purchase of conversational engagement platform Gupshup’s proprietary ‘GSPay’ technology stack for enabling UPI-based payments for feature phones. GSPay is a mobile application built on top of NPCI’s UPI payment solution for feature phones (UPI 123PAY). According to PhonePe, it plans to customize and extend the recently acquired GSPay IP and launch its own feature-phone based UPI payment mobile app on new feature phones in India, over the next few quarters. PhonePe aims to provide all basic UPI features such as P2P transfers, offline QR payments, and receiving of money from any other UPI customer to their mobile numbers or self-QRs seamlessly. This move aims to create full payment interoperability between feature phone and smartphone users and bring crores of Indians who still use feature phones into the Indian digital payments ecosystem. “This segment of users has been historically underserved by the digital financial industry and the broader startup ecosystem. We hope we can enable crores of these feature phone customers to participate in India’s burgeoning digital payments market,” said Sameer Nigam, co-founder & CEO of PhonePe. PhonePe’s portfolio of businesses includes the distribution of financial products (insurance, lending, and wealth) as well as new consumer tech businesses (Pincode and Indus AppStore). As per market research, India had approximately 24 crore feature phone users in 2024, and an additional approx 15 crore feature phone shipments are expected over the next five years. Launched in 2016, PhonePe has over 60 crore (600 million) registered users and a digital payments acceptance network spread across over 4 crore merchants. It also processes over 33 crore transactions daily with an Annualized Total Payment Value (TPV) of over Rs 150 lakh crore.

Jason Kothari’s new startup Mythik raises $15 Mn in Seed round

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Jason Kothari’s new startup Mythik raises $15 Mn in Seed round
Medial

Jason Kothari, the former Snapdeal executive, has raised $15 million in a seed funding round for his new startup, Mythik. The round saw participation from Sakal Media Group, BITKRAFT, VC Grid, Visceral Capital, Jason Kothari, Shah Rukh Khan’s family office, Patni family office, Saif Saeed Ghobash, Jayanti Kannai, Pravin Jain, Marc Younan, Deepen Parikh, Samir Vora, Samarth Parekh, Anurag Goel, Nishant Aggarwal, and others. Launched by Kothari last month, Mythik is a tech-first global entertainment company aiming to bring Eastern mythology, history, and folktales to a worldwide audience for the first time and to create a "Disney from the East." Jason Kothari, Founder of Mythik, said, “We are excited about the world-class and strategic investors we have brought together and look forward to realizing Mythik’s vision and mission—to bring Eastern mythology, history, and folktales to the forefront of global entertainment and inspire happiness, peace, and hope.” The company’s founding team includes former senior executives from Disney, Netflix, Amazon Studios, Jio, and Tencent. Kothari’s entrepreneurial journey began at Wharton, where he acquired the bankrupt comic book publisher Valiant Entertainment and led its turnaround. He later sold the company to DMG Entertainment for $100 million and served as executive producer of Bloodshot, a film based on a Valiant character, starring Vin Diesel. Kothari joined Housing.com in 2015 and was named CEO following the exit of founding CEO Rahul Yadav. He later served as CEO of FreeCharge for eight months and as Chief Strategy and Investment Officer at Snapdeal for one and a half years.

Exclusive: Dhan delivers 45X returns to Kunal Shah, PhonePe founders and other angels

EntrackrEntrackr · 3m ago
Exclusive: Dhan delivers 45X returns to Kunal Shah, PhonePe founders and other angels
Medial

Exclusive: Dhan delivers 45X returns to Kunal Shah, PhonePe founders and other angels Fintech investing platform Dhan has facilitated early-stage exits, with several angels and early investors securing hefty returns through a secondary transaction executed alongside its ongoing Series B round, according to sources aware of the matter. “Few angels who are building competing businesses, including Cred’s Kunal Shah, Miten Sampat, and members of the PhonePe founding network, have secured a full exit, generating nearly a 45X return in under four years,” said one of the sources, requesting anonymity. “This is one of the quickest and highest-multiple exits for angel investors in fintech in recent memory,” said the source cited above. According to the sources, early backers Mirae, Beenext, and 3one4 Capital have sold part of their holdings, earning 9–10X returns within three years. The secondary component was executed in parallel with Dhan’s $120 million Series B round, led by Hornbill Capital and featuring participation from MUFG Bank, Beenext, and a pool of public-market investors and family offices. Dhan currently has $160–180 million in cash on its balance sheet, and the primary money from the Series B will also be utilised for the acquisition of Statzy and some more potential startups, the sources added. Entrackr reached out to Dhan on Thursday for comments on the secondary transaction and will update the story if they respond. Kunal Shah and Miten Sampat declined to comment. PhonePe co-founders confirmed the exit but did not comment on returns earned. We have also reached out to Beenext, 3One4 Capital, and Mirae Asset. Founded in 2021 by Pravin Jadhav, Dhan operates as a stockbroking and investment platform aimed at active traders and Gen Z investors. It offers equity, ETF, and futures and options trading across NSE, BSE, and MCX, along with integrations for smallcase, TradingView, and MoneyControl to enhance user experience. Financially, Dhan has reportedly achieved strong performance, clocking around Rs 900 crore in revenue during FY25 against Rs 380 crore in FY24, while maintaining cash-flow positivity for multiple years. Dhan joins the growing list of profitable stockbroking unicorns in India, alongside Zerodha, Groww, and Angel One.

Startups refund investors in ethical move after shutdown and failed pivot

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Startups refund investors in ethical move after shutdown and failed pivot
Medial

The shutdown of SaaS startup Toplyne took many by surprise, as the San Francisco and Bengaluru-based company became one of the few from the well-funded segment to halt operations. Having raised over $17 million from investors like Tiger Global and Peak XV, the firm also garnered attention for its commitment to return the remaining capital to investors, highlighting the importance of ethical practices in the startup landscape. Not just Toplyne, but a bunch of startups that shut down or pivoted have returned capital to their investors after struggling to establish a sustainable revenue model. They also encountered challenges such as funding shortages, adverse market conditions, and cash flow issues. According to data from TheKredible, as many as 8 Indian startups have refunded investors after either ceasing operations or unsuccessful pivots as of October 12. This accounts for 50% of all shutdowns and pivots that have occurred in the current calendar year. Paras Chopra-led Nintee was the first to announce its shutdown and return capital to investors in April this year. It was backed by Peak XV and angels like Kunal Shah. Following this, several other startups joined the trend, including edtech firm Bluelearn and trading platform Investmint, as well as offline firm Convenio, launched by former Swiggy senior vice president Karthik Gurumurthy. Most recently, agritech startup Greenikk also announced that it would refund investors after ceasing operations. It’s worth noting that Gurumurthy had raised $3 million from Matrix Partners and others in stealth mode. Earlier this year, two fashion tech companies—Fashinza and Virgio—opted to return capital to their investors after struggling to find traction with their original business models. Virgio, led by former Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram, raised over $37 million from investors including Prosus Ventures, Alpha Wave Partners, and Accel Partners before its pivot. Fashinza, the highest-funded company on the list, secured $150 million in equity and working capital from notable backers such as Mars Growth Capital, Liquidity Group, Accel, Prosus, WestBridge, and Elevation Capital. In the current debate about the market savvy of Bengaluru startups compared to those in Delhi NCR, it’s interesting to observe that five startups on this exclusive list originate from Bengaluru, whereas only two are from NCR. Between 2022 and 2023, several startups, including Frontrow, Udayy, ConnectedH, and Anar, had returned capital to their investors after shutting down operations for various reasons. The return of capital should not be as big a deal as made out, but catches attention simply because of the times we live in. When fund raising is treated as a massive success in itself, returning those (or whatever remains) funds is certainly a call a founder would make after much agonising normally. Or after burning through most of those funds in trying to pivot, than accept failure. While strong founder ethics and a long term view on the reputational impact is one factor, we believe it is also increasingly a function of how closely investors work with them. And yes, while it will never be as acceptable as many would like, failure is a lot less damaging to future prospects for a founder today than even a decade back. Many investors today, as they work with younger founders especially, keep a very close eye on the day to day running of the business and metrics, giving them a much more deeper understanding of business direction. Thus, where a thesis has failed completely, decisions on shut downs are being taken faster now. Finally, in the rarefied world of fund raising, where access to the right networks matter, as more startups have been funded, we can see longer memory for the performance of the deal sourcing people as well. It would be no surprise if many of these have played an instrumental role in ensuring a return of funds to a VC where they hope to do more work in the future.

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