PhonePe’s nine-month 2022 revenue, backed by Walmart, jumped to $234 million

PhonePe recorded revenue of $234.3 million in the first nine months of 2022, India’s most valuable fintech startup revealed in a filing.

The nine-month financial statements mark a jump from the $201.6 million revenue generated by the Bengaluru head office during the 12-month fiscal period ending March last year.

PhonePe, which is valued at $12 billion, forecasts revenue of $325 million in calendar year 2022 and $504 million in 2023, according to a valuation report prepared by the audit firm KPMG and deposited by PhonePe. The audit firm’s estimates are based on information provided by PhonePe’s management, the document said.

The Walmart-backed startup does not expect positive EBIDTA, a key measure of profitability, until calendar year 2025, KMPG wrote in its valuation report. PhonePe’s financials and metrics from the valuation report have not been previously released.

With a valuation of $12 billion, PhonePe is India’s most valuable fintech startup. The startup competes with Google Pay and Paytm. Paytm, which plans to hit $1 billion in revenue by March this year, is currently valued at $4.1 billion.

PhonePe, of course, is the clear market leader in mobile payments on UPI, a network built by a coalition of retail banks in India. UPI has become the most popular way for Indians to transact online and processes over 7 billion transactions per month. Seven-year-old PhonePe controls about 40% of all these transactions.

A concern for PhonePe’s growth was that Indian regulators were applying market capitalization controls to each player, but the deadline for the new guidelines was extended last month and will now only come into effect in 2025, giving PhonePe another two years of rapid growth.