As it looks to scale up its financial and wealth management services, Walmart-owned digital payments firm PhonePe is set to acquire wealth management firms WealthDesk for about $50 million and OpenQ for around $20 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
Earlier this year, PhonePe applied to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for a mutual fund (MF) licence, joining rivals in the race to set up an asset management company (AMC).
PhonePe confirmed that it is acquiring WealthDesk and OpenQ, but didn’t reveal the value of the transaction.
“PhonePe is acquiring WealthDesk. The founder and the entire team will be working as a part of the PhonePe group and both the platforms will remain independent,” a PhonePe spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that WealthDesk will remain open to all players, and founder Ujjwal Jain will continue to oversee it.
“PhonePe is also acquiring OpenQ, subject to necessary regulatory approvals,” the spokesperson said. “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.”
After digital payments, financial services have become the next big battleground for players such as PhonePe, Amazon, Google and Paytm. The size of the Indian financial services market could touch around $340 billion in the next few years.
PhonePe forayed into financial services in 2017 by allowing the trading of gold on its platform, and later silver. It has since introduced several mutual fund and insurance products like tax-saving funds, liquid funds, international travel insurance, and life insurance.
In the future, PhonePe expects almost half of its revenue to come from financial services. The company also plans to tap the merchant lending space and stock broking, apart from its aim of building an asset management company.
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Business News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsAzi is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
