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One of the digital payments giant PhonePe is in top talks to acquire another homegrown content and app Discovery platform Indus OS in a deal valued at around $60 million.
The company is Bengaluru-based and the reason for the acquisition is to boost its super app Switch. An application that hosts across categories such as travel shopping, food, and lifestyle. It is a simple platform providing a wide range of services under one roof.
The acquired company Indus OS is here to reach non-English speakers beyond India’s tier 1 cities and to allow them to consume content in different languages as per their choice. This acquisition will help to tie up with more local developers for better application engagement.
It will also support an array of applications to the Switch platform, its reach, and expansion. This is the second acquisition made by PhonePe after acquiring Zipper in 2018.
Currently, both companies are finishing up the acquisition formalities.
About Indus OS
It was founded in 2015 by Rakesh Deshmukh, Akash Dongre, and Sudhir Bangrabandi. The company operates a local Android application store known as India App Bazar. It offers applications and content in over a dozen of Indian languages, which ensure better reach and more business expansion.
Talking about PhonePe, it’s a leading third-party processor of UPI payments. It made several forays into the financial intermediary and merchant management business.
It was flooded with funds after a massive $700 million funding round led by Walmart in 2020. PhonePe aggressively did its marketing and customer acquisition initiatives in 2021.
Currently, PhonePe is valued at $5.5 billion in the round making it India’s second most valuable fintech startup after Paytm.
