TechCrunch
BharatPe, a New Delhi-based startup that is enabling hundreds of thousands of merchants to accept digital payments for the first time and also providing them with access to working capital, has raised $75 million in a new financing round as it looks to scale its business in the nation.
The Series C round for the one-and-a-half-year-old startup was led by New York-headquartered hedge fund Coatue Management and existing Palo Alto-based fintech investor Ribbit Capital. VC firm Amplo and existing investors Steadview Capital and Insight Partners also participated in the round, which valued the startup at over $400 million. BharatPe has raised $140 million to date.
BharatPe operates an eponymous service to help offline merchants accept digital payments. Even as India has already emerged as the second largest internet market, with more than 500 million users, much of the country remains offline. Among those outside of the reach of the internet are merchants running small businesses, such as roadside tea stalls.
To make these merchants comfortable with accepting digital payments, BharatPe relies on QR codes that support government-backed UPI payments infrastructure. Ashneer Grover, co-founder and chief executive of BharatPe, said the startup will use much of the fresh capital to fund working capital for its merchant partners.
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