How a Bengaluru startup became the backbone of India's digital payment revolution

Countries & Cities · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Founded in 2015, PhonePe transformed from a simple mobile wallet into a massive financial ecosystem. By leveraging the government-backed Unified Payments Interface, it redefined how millions of Indians manage money, shop, and invest. Now, the company is preparing for a public listing after years of rapid, high-stakes expansion.

PhonePe began in December 2015, founded by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer in Bengaluru. The company gained early momentum through an acquisition by Flipkart in April 2016, which provided the necessary infrastructure, including the FxMart license that became the PhonePe wallet. By August 2016, the firm partnered with Yes Bank to launch its core mobile payment application, built on the government-backed Unified Payments Interface (UPI). This platform allowed users to perform diverse tasks, from utility payments to in-store transactions, across 11 different Indian languages.

The company's journey was not without friction. In early 2017, PhonePe faced significant operational hurdles when ICICI Bank and Airtel blocked its transactions, citing concerns over NPCI guidelines. While the NPCI initially supported PhonePe, it later reversed its stance, forcing the company to temporarily halt operations on Flipkart's website to align with regulatory requirements. These issues were resolved by February 2017, allowing the company to continue its growth trajectory. By 2020, PhonePe began a partial split from Flipkart, eventually shifting its domicile from Singapore to India in 2022 to finalize its independence, while Walmart maintained majority ownership.

PhonePe has since diversified far beyond basic payments. It launched international UPI capabilities in 2022, a hyperlocal shopping app called Pincode in 2023, and a stock broking platform named Share.Market. In 2024, it entered the software distribution space with the Indus Appstore, and by 2026, it introduced UPI 123Pay to bring digital payments to feature phone users without internet access. Following a series of massive funding rounds in 2023 that valued the firm at $12 billion, PhonePe converted into a public company in April 2025. By September 2025, it had filed draft papers with SEBI for an initial public offering, marking a new chapter for the fintech giant.

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