BharatPe raises $370 mn funding led by Tiger Global, valuation touches $2.85 bn

BharatPe on Wednesday said it has raised USD 370 million (about Rs 2,745.8 crore) in funding, led by Tiger Global that has pushed the merchant payment and lending service provider’s post-money valuation to USD 2.85 billion. The series E round included a secondary component of USD 20 million, a statement said. Staff holding vested employee stock option plan (ESOPs) have been given full liquidity in the secondary, it added.

“The round, led by Tiger Global, also saw new participation from Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital,” the statement said. Five out of the seven existing institutional investors participated in the round – namely Coatue Management, Insight Partners, Sequoia Growth, Ribbit Capital and Amplo, it added. Ashneer Grover has been elevated to Co-founder and Managing Director, while Suhail Sameer has been appointed as the CEO. ”We now have USD 0.5 billion cash on books and are extremely well capitalised to deliver on our mandate to build India’s first truly digital bank. Rarely does one witness the original thesis play out without any pivot,” Grover said.