BENGALURU: Walmart-backed digital payments company PhonePe is all set to acquire buy now, pay later (BNPL) company ZestMoney in a deal pegged at $200 million- $300 million, according to sources.
“The talks are on and it will be finalised in another 3-4 weeks,” the sources said.
After the acquisition, ZestMoney will continue to operate as a separate entity. ZestMoney, which was founded in 2015 by Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman, is the fastest growing consumer lending fintech company.
It is said to be the largest omnichannel BNPL platform with over 17 million registered users across the country. It has the largest network of merchants with over 10,000 online partners including Amazon, Flipkart, MakeMyTrip and Nykaa, among others. It is also present at over 75,000 offline stores.
With this acquisition, PhonePe will strengthen its lending services. ZestMoney disburses around Rs 400 crore a month in lending. The fintech company was last valued at $470 million, and so far, it has raised $140 million. In the Series C round, it raised around $70 million.
According to sources, the fintech company has reduced burn rate and will turn profitable next month. PhonePe has over 41.5 crore registered users, and it forayed into financial services in 2017. It recently moved domicile from Singapore to India. PhonePe has seen a revenue growth of 138%, with revenues at Rs 1,646 crore in FY21-22.