Tuesday, September 23, 2025

BharatPe Fetches ₹24,335 Crore ($2.8B) Valuation In A Pre-Ipo Round


Fintech unicorn BharatPe has seen its first secondary share sale in four years, with Gujarat-based family offices acquiring 4405 shares at Rs. 4,06,000 per share valuing BharatPe at Rs. 24,335 Crore ($2.8B).

The transaction was facilitated by Wealth-tech platform Wylth, founded by former Co-founder and CEO of IIFL Capital (now 360One). The shares were acquired from the holding of 28,473 shares from Finix Partners, the family office of the original founder of BharatPe, Bhavik Koladiya.


Dramatic Turnaround

7 years old, BharatPe has quietly pulled off one of Indian fintech’s most dramatic turnarounds: revenues have grown nearly 12× since its last fundraise, while annual losses of ₹1,800 crore have flipped into profitability.

The Unicorn Fintech, best known for pioneering zero-MDR QR codes for merchants, reported an annual revenue run rate of ₹2,200 crore in 2025, up from ₹180 crore in FY21 since its last funding round led by global institutional investors like Tiger Global, Coatue, Steadfast, Dragoneer, Insight Partners, Ribbit Capital. Four years ago, the company was bleeding more than ₹1,800 crore annually. Today, it is profitable for the first time in its history.

Fiscal Year

Revenue

Loss

Valuation

FY21

₹180 Cr

₹1,800 Cr

$2.8B

FY25

₹2,200 Cr

Profitable

$2.8B

The financial snapshot underscores BharatPe’s evolution from a loss-heavy blitzscaler into a sustainable financial institution.

BharatPe, the fintech that put interoperable QR codes and zero-MDR on the map for India’s small shops, has completed a rare second act. The company rebuilt under chairman Rajnish Kumar and CEO Nalin Negi, adding experienced leaders, tightening governance, and shifting from disruptive startup to a disciplined financial institution. That overhaul, coupled with a sharper focus on merchant services and credit, has positioned BharatPe as a credible challenger to giants like Paytm, PhonePe, and Google Pay.

The pivot to SME credit has been transformative. BharatPe now disburses about ₹700 crore in loans every month, providing lifelines to shopkeepers underserved by banks. This credit engine helped drive a dramatic turnaround: losses of ₹5,594 crore in FY22 shrank to ₹491 crore by FY24, and in FY25 the company reported full profitability. A new NBFC license, stake in Unity Small Finance Bank, and final approval for a Payment Aggregator license have given BharatPe regulatory muscle few fintechs possess. By building its own UPI transaction switch, it is also evolving from a payments participant into an infrastructure player.

IPO Plans

With over 13 million merchants and 450 million monthly UPI transactions, BharatPe is preparing for its next chapter: the public markets. While it won’t list before FY2026, Negi is courting investors for a $100M pre-IPO round to strengthen the balance sheet and secure external confidence.

“BharatPe, has grown in just seven years from a disruptive startup into a trusted, systemically important financial institution under the leadership of Rajnish Kumar and Nalin Negi. For Wylth®, facilitating this latest investment was both professional and personal, with Amit Shah and his family investing alongside their network as a statement of confidence in BharatPe’s future, its resilient culture, and the strength of India’s entrepreneurial spirit.”, added Wylth.

“Wylth’s ethos of lifelong commitment to financial inclusion deeply aligns with ours, and we’re thrilled to welcome the Wylth family as shareholders in BharatPe. This is more than a transaction — it’s a vote of conviction in India’s millions of merchants and BharatPe’s world-class leadership team.” added Finix Partners.

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