PhonePe on Thursday entered the decacorn club — valuation of more than $10 billion — following a funds infusion by General Atlantic that valued the Walmart-owned fintech platform at $12 billion.

The start-up said it will mobilise up to $1 billion in the next round, expected to close next month. New marque global and Indian investors have been signed up for the funding.

PhonePe had recently announced a change of its domicile to India and full separation from Flipkart.

Besides PhonePe, Byju’s, Flipkart and Swiggy are members of the decacorn club.

The funding makes PhonePe the most valued fintech firm in India at a time startups are finding it difficult to raise funds as investors have turned extremely cautious. At its last funding round in December 2020, PhonePe was valued at $5.5 billion.

PhonePe said it plans to deploy the funds to make significant investments in infrastructure, including the development of data centers, and help build financial services offerings at scale in the country.

The company also plans to invest in new businesses, including insurance, wealth management and lending. The company seeks to lead the next wave of growth for UPI payments, including UPI lite (the on-device wallet) and Credit on UPI to enable greater financial inclusion.

“I would like to thank General Atlantic and all our existing and new investors for the trust placed on us. PhonePe is proud to help India’s digitisation efforts,” Sameer Nigam, founder and chief executive officer of PhonePe, said.

Rare feat

■ Fintech firm raises $350m from General Atlantic

■ Will raise another $1bn from others by February

■ Company a decacorn — valuation more than $10bn