BharatPe is a fintech unicorn that secured Rs 85 crore in debt through non‑convertible debentures. The investment comprised Rs 50 crore from Trifecta Venture Debt Fund—II and Rs 35 crore from InnoVen Capital India Fund, per a regulatory filing. The board issued 500 Series E1 debentures at Rs 10,00,000 each and 3,500 Series F1 debentures at Rs 1,00,00 each. The company opted for debt financing to avoid equity dilution as it approaches break‑even. Earlier this year BharatPe completed a reported $100 million debt round; Entracker had said InnoVen and Credit Saison were expected to fund its NBFC arm, Trillion Loans, though that could not be confirmed. In August 2021 BharatPe raised $370 million in a Series E led by Tiger Global at a $2.85 billion valuation. In FY23 the startup narrowed losses by about 83% to Rs 941 crore (from Rs 5,615 crore a year earlier) and its revenue from operations rose over 125% to Rs 1,028 crore (from Rs 456 crore). BharatPe is a Delhi-based fintech that provides merchant loans and payments services through its platforms and NBFC partnerships. It acquired a 51% stake in Mumbai-based NBFC Trillion Loans in May 2023 and has installed new board members at the arm. The firm says it has provided loans worth over Rs 12,400 crore and recently facilitated about Rs 640 crore in merchant loans in a month. BharatPe crossed the Rs 1,000 crore revenue mark in FY23, reporting operating revenue of Rs 1,029 crore versus Rs 457 crore in FY22. Losses were Rs 941 crore in FY23, up from Rs 834 crore the prior year, though the company reported its first profitable month in October of the ongoing fiscal. Management appears close to break-even and has preferred raising debt rather than equity to avoid dilution. BharatPe operates a payments and lending platform that helps offline merchants accept digital payments via QR codes and point-of-sale machines built on India's UPI infrastructure. It serves more than 7 million merchants across over 130 Indian cities and has disbursed close to $300 million to merchant partners. The company does not charge merchants for universal QR code access and primarily monetizes through lending. BharatPe says it has US$0.5B cash on the books and plans to expand product offerings and pursue a small finance bank in partnership with Centrum Financial Services, with which it recently won a license from the Reserve Bank of India. The startup has seen executive departures and has appointed Suhail Sameer as CEO while co-founder Ashneer Grover will oversee strategy, product, technology, and capital. The company was valued at about $900 million in its Series D in February and at $425 million last year. BharatPe offers merchants a single interface to accept payments from all major UPI apps and provides loan facilities to its merchant partners. The company focuses on enabling credit for small merchants and kirana stores across India and aims to scale its lending business. It has disbursed loans to more than 1 lakh merchants and set a 2020–21 target of disbursing Rs 1,000 crore of which Rs 800 crore has already been disbursed. BharatPe aims to enable credit to 10 lakh small merchants in 2021 and targets disbursing USD 2 billion by March 2023. Management intends to raise close to USD 700 million of debt capital over the next two years to expand lending. The company was founded in 2018 and combines payment acceptance with B2B fintech lending for merchants. BharatPe operates an eponymous service that helps offline merchants accept digital payments using QR codes built on India’s government-backed UPI infrastructure. The company also offers short-term working capital loans to merchant partners as a primary monetization strategy. It has disbursed about $14 million in short-term loans to over 20,000 merchants in the past seven months; new merchants can secure roughly $500 for three months, rising to about $2,000 as they increase activity. BharatPe has amassed over 3 million merchants across 30 Indian cities and aims to more than double that number by March 2021. The startup will use much of the fresh capital to fund working capital for its merchant partners. To date the company has raised $140 million and was valued at over $400 million in the latest round.

Total raised

$612M

Funding rounds

6

Latest round

Debt Financing

Latest activity

Jul 2024