By Madhurima Ghosh –
Digital payments and financial services platform PhonePe said on May 18, that it is acquiring two wealth tech platforms WealthDeskand Open IQ to expand its financial services beyond payments. While PhonePe did not disclose anything about the worth of deal, sources aware of the development revealed that the total deal is in the range of USD 75 million.
PhonePe co-founder and CEO Sameer Nigam mentioned that the company desires to become a financial group. PhonePe holds the majority share of 47 percent in monthly Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions.
PhonePe stated that PhonePe is acquiring WealthDesk (‘Wealth Technologies & Services Private Limited’). The founder and the entire team will be working as a part of the PhonePe group and both the platforms will remain independent. The founder Ujjwal Jain will continue leading the company.
“WealthDesk’s vision is to create an internet-scale investment technology ecosystem by building the United Wealth Interface (UWI) for Asset and Wealth Management ecosystem on top of broking/transactional platforms in India. WealthDesk’s platform offerings will allow all stakeholders in this ecosystem to integrate with each other and push investment products innovation,” PhonePesaid.
WealthDesk currently has over 50 partners across categories already working with them and PhonePe expects their platform to scale further by integrating with more partners and to become a gold standard for investment technology. The valuation of Wealthdesk is over USD 50 million, the source said.
PhonePe is also acquiring OpenQ (Quantech Capital Investment Advisors Private Limited), subject to necessary regulatory approvals.
OpenQ is a smart beta wealth management platform, which designs investment strategies and optimal portfolio construction advice. Post-acquisition, OpenQ will be instrumental in creating the Wealth Ecosystem for the PhonePe Group, the statement said.