BharatPe Eyes Unicorn Status, Raises $350 Mn Fund

BharatPe secures $350 million fund, Tiger Global invests $100 million alongwith participation from exiting investors that include Amplo, Insight Partners, Beenext, Sequoia Capital and Steadview Capital and many more.

Tiger Global Management is also eager to lead a $350 million round investment in BharatPe that would rise the valuation to more than $2 billion, that would make the fintech startup India’s latest unicorn.

Tiger Global would be investing $100 million along with exiting investors that include Amplo, Beenext, Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Steadview Capital, among others. Although, the discussion is going on at an “advanced” stage and the investment round is expected soon.

The development comes ahead of the company’s plans with Centrum Group to take over the troubled Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, the report added.

The move was approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in June under on-tap licensing norms. BharatPe and Centrum will infuse up to 2,224 crore ($250-300 million) in the bank in PMC Bank over the next two years.

RBI states, that the “in-principle” approval has been accorded in specific pursuance to Centrum Financial Services Limited’s offer dated February 1, in response to the Expression of Interest notification dated November 3, 2020, published by the PMC Bank.

The approval is under the general “Guidelines for ‘on tap’ licensing of Small Finance Banks in the Private Sector” dated December 5, 2019, the RBI said.

In February, BharatPe had secured around $108 million in a Series D primary and secondary equity round led by Coatue Management for valuation of $900 million. Later in March 2020, PMC Bank had total deposits of 10,727.12 crore, total advances of 4,472.78 crore and gross NPA of 3,518.89 crore. The share capital of the bank is 292.94 crore. The bank registered a net loss of 6,835 crore during 2019-20 and has a negative net worth of 5,850.61 crore. The RBI superseded PMC Bank board in September 2019.

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