Bengaluru: Walmart-owned fintech company PhonePe on Wednesday announced its foray into the stock broking domain by introducing its app called Share.Market. This app enables users to engage in trading and investments within stocks, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), media reports said.
In 2022, PhonePe made strategic acquisitions of two wealth tech platforms, WealthDesk and OpenQ, collectively valued at $70 million. This move formed part of PhonePes ongoing strategy to expand its financial services beyond just payment solutions, Moneycontrol reported.
Having initiated steps in 2021 to enter the competitive stockbroking sector in India, PhonePe awaited regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to proceed.
Earlier this year, reports surfaced indicating that PhonePe had also applied for a mutual fund license from the market regulator, a step that would empower the company to offer its own mutual funds, reported Moneycontrol.
Currently, Zerodha, Groww, and Upstox are the top players in the space.
The development comes five months after PhonePe secured an additional tranche of $100 million from private equity firm General Atlantic and its co-investors, according to the report.
Meanwhile, venture capital investors like Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds invested $100 million in February and Walmart invested $200 million in primary capital in March, it said.
Walmart-owned PhonePe is valued at $12 billion. The fintech entity has processed around 5 billion transactions during the May-July quarter every month for the first time.
The company also recorded a total payments volume of $1.15 trillion on an annual basis, a high-ranked official of the American retail giant stated in an earnings call held on 18 August 2023.
PhonePe was hived off from Walmart-owned Flipkart as a company entity from its parent firm, last year, and is currently the company getting ready to list in India.
