BharatPe secures Rs 200 Cr in debt from group of investors

BharatPe, whose USP is based on the merchant QR code based payment has secured Rs 200 crore in debt fund from a group of institutions including ICICI Bank, Alteria Capital and Innoven Capital.

Mentored by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani, it offers a single interface or interoperable QR code for all existing UPI apps such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, BHIM, Mobikwik and others.

The debt infusion has come at a time when the company put a joint bid with Centrum Group to acquire the scam-hit lender Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank.

Alteria and ICICI have loaned Rs 90 crore and Rs 49 crore respectively and Rs 60 crore worth debt infusion from Innoven , the firm has raised Rs 200 crore in total debt till date.

This is the first round of debt financing for BharatPe and one of the largest debt closure by a growth stage fintech company in recent past. The size of debt also shows that investors are bullish about the company. 

BharatPe is in the market to raise over $200 million in equity at a valuation of over $900 million. Sources said, it is also in talks to raise around $500-$700 million in debt for the next two years.

BharatPe has become one among a few startups in the payments space in India to raise that much funds from venture debt providers.

Besides its core business, BharatPe had also forayed into the point of sale (PoS) business in June 2020 to compete with the various old players including Pine Labs, Mswipe, Innoviti, Jio, PhonePe and Paytm.