PhonePe to acquire WealthDesk and OpenQ
These acquisitions will help Walmart-backed PhonePe enter the wealth management market and open new revenue streams beyond payments.
Walmart-backed is set to acquire wealth management firms and . Bloomberg News, which reported the news first on Wednesday, said PhonePe would buy WealthDesk for about $50 million and OpenQ for nearly $25 million.
In a statement shared with YourStory, the company said, "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. WealthDesk will continue to remain an open platform for all players, and the founder Ujjwal Jain will continue defining the vision for his company."
Founded in 2016, WealthDesk is a Mumbai-based B2B2C investment technology platform enabling portfolio-based investing on top of stocks and ETFs, consolidating advisory, broking, asset, and wealth management ecosystem. The platform currently has 50+ partners across categories already working with PhonePe.
OpenQ (Quantech Capital Investment Advisors Private Limited) offers retail and institutional investors trading baskets and investment analytics services. The deal is subject to "necessary regulatory approvals," said PhonePe.
“Post acquisition, OpenQ will be instrumental in creating the wealth ecosystem for the PhonePe Group,” added the company.
These acquisitions will help PhonePe enter the wealth management market and open new revenue streams beyond payments.
In December 2021, the financial service company had applied for a mutual funds licence with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), joining six other companies awaiting approval. It also had plans to enter the merchant-lending business in the first half of 2022.
Founded in 2015, PhonePe is led by Sameer Nigam. The company became part of after the retailer’s acquisition of Group in 2018.
At present, Flipkart owns about 87 percent stake in PhonePe while Walmart owns about 10 percent.
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta