In a major consolidation in the payments sector, Prosus-backed PayU has acquired payments company BillDesk for USD 4.7 billion. The deal will bring Prosus’s cumulative investment in Indian tech to more than USD 10 billion.
Prosus says that the acquisition of BillDesk will see PayU become one of the leading online payment providers globally, handling a total payment volume (TPV) of USD 147 billion.
PayU India and BillDesk run complementary businesses within India’s digital payment industry. Together, the two expect to create a financial ecosystem handling four billion transactions annually - four times PayU’s current level in India, as per the press statement.
BillDesk was founded in 2000 by MN Srinivasu, Karthik Ganapathy and Ajay Kaushal, who were former consultants at US-based Arthur Andersen.
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It had raised funds funding from TA Associates, General Atlantic, Clearstone Venture Partners, Singapore’s state-held firm Temasek Holdings and Visa.
The platform allows customers to use net banking or cards to pay their bills online by tying up with utility service providers and connecting them with banks through a payment gateway.
The company had received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit under the Bharat Bill Payment System
Previous acquisitions by PayU in India include CitrusPay, Paysense and Wibmo.
(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)
First Published: Aug 31, 2021 1:11 PM IST
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