Fintech major PhonePe is making a mark for itself in the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) space by announcing the launch of its ecommerce app, Pincode. Built on top of the government-backed platform, Pincode will have a pilot in Bengaluru and feature categories such as grocery, food, pharma, electronics, and home decor. It serves as a digital means of connecting and promoting local shopkeepers and sellers with consumers.
PhonePe’s plans to enter the ecommerce space date as far back as last year, which the fintech had earmarked up to $15 million for. During a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, convened to discuss the probable effects of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)’s collapse, to the Indian startup ecosystem, it was concluded that the impact was limited, and that specialized financial services were needed to promote Indian startups.
The news comes after Spendflo announced their Series A funding of $11 million. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) buying and management solution was funded led by Prosus Ventures and Accel. Dozer, an open-source data infrastructure platform can now be accessed by developers as it recently raised $3 million in a seed round of financing. Business-to-business fashion ecommerce marketplace, Zyod, also secured $3.5 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk toyed with the microblogging site’s iconic blue bird logo, replacing it with a ‘doge’ meme for the Dogecoin cryptocurrency. The move marks the cryptocurrency’s surging value rise as it shot up over 28%.
PhonePe is a digital payments and financial services platform, founded in 2015 by early Flipkart executives Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari. It is one of India’s largest digital payments platforms and allows users to securely transfer money or make payments using their smartphone or computer. It has been around in various guises over the years, but has been owned by Flipkart since 2016. PhonePe has raised more than $1.8 billion and is valued at over $10 billion.
PhonePe’s Co-founders, Rahul Chari and Sameer Nigam, have extensive experience in the fintech and payments space in India. With over 20 years of combined experience in the technology space, the duo have worked in multiple startups, including Flipkart and Airtel. Both have been instrumental in the company’s exponential growth, from payment gateway to payment-related products and services, like Pincode and PhonePe Wallet.
