BENGALURU: Fintech firm BharatPe has become the 19th start-up to enter the unicorn club with the latest $350-million fundraise. The Series E funding round was led by the US investment giant Tiger Global, besides the new investors Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital.
BharatPe’s valuation has jumped to $2.85 billion from $900 million during the fundraising, earlier this year. The current fundraise also included a $20-million secondary share sale through the employee share buyback programme.The merchants payment platform has also elevated Suhail Sameer as its Chief Executive Officer, whereas Ashneer Grover, the founder of the company will be the Managing Director.
“We now have $500 millon cash on books and are extremely well-capitalised to deliver on our mandate to build India’s first truly digital bank. BharatPe will remain focused on lending as the core business and small merchants as our primary target segment,” Grover said.BharatPe is facing stiff competition from the likes of Paytm, PhonePe , Pinelabs.