Singapore’s Beenext leads $4m series A round in Indian digital payments firm

Phi Commerce, an India-based digital payments firm, announced that it has raised US$4 million in a series A round led by Singapore-based VC firm Beenext.

Yatra Angel Network, which is managed by seed investor and fintech veteran Abhishant Pant, also participated in the round.

Jose Thattil, CEO and co-founder of Phi Commerce / Source: Phi Commerce

Phi Commerce will utilize the funds to bolster its product offering, expand in existing markets, and enter new geographies.

Founded in 2015, the Pune-based fintech startup offers an application programming interface (API) platform – PayPhi – that addresses payments collection, processing, and distribution requirements of networks, banks, processors, and businesses through online, mobile, and in-store channels.

Phi Commerce, which claims to have more than 100 million monthly transactions, has a presence across Tier 1 to Tier 3 cities in India.

“India is probably the most complex payment market in the world with all sorts of payment form factors. The Phi Commerce team has built a remarkable product covering end-to-end omnichannel payments at scale,” said Hero Choudhary, partner at Beenext.

In June 2020, Beenext closed a total of US$160 million for its two new funds. One of them was the US$110 million Beenext Emerging Asia Fund which was focused on investing in early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia to accelerate digital technologies across the region.