phonepe: $30 billion of proof that India's tech scene is back
Walmart is mulling to demerge PhonePe —the payment system and digital wallet company of Flipkart - so that its ownership will be vested directly with the US retail behemoth, offering some hope for the country’s long-awaited tech renaissance. Source: Bloomberg By Tim Culpan India’s largest startup is ready to birth its own unicorn . That’d be unusual anywhere, but that it’s happening in India offers some hope for the country’s long-awaited tech renaissance. This is also great news for Walmart Inc. The U.S. retail behemoth paid $16 billion for 77% of India e-commerce company Flipkart Group in May last year. That deal included payments unit PhonePe — an early pioneer in the digital-wallet business — which Flipkart had acquired two years earlier. Now Walmart is engineering a spinoff as part of a $1 billion funding round that could value payment unit at up to $10 billion and give the retailer an 82% stake in PhonePe and Flipkart, India’s Economic Times reported. From one $20.