Walmart's PhonePe raised $600M from General Atlantic at a $14.5B valuation, as the Indian digital payments and financial services company prepares for an IPO
The Economic Times :
Google Pay and PhonePe accounted for 80% of India's UPI transactions in Aug. 2025, down from 85% a year ago, as smaller players like Navi and BHIM gained ground
Pratik Bhakta / The Economic Times :
Tracxn: funding for Indian digital lending startups fell to $462M between January and August 2025 from $1.1B a year earlier, after RBI tightened lending norms
The Economic Times :
Indian EV ride-hailing startup BluSmart appears to have suspended service a day after regulators launched a probe into Gensol, which shares its co-founders
clean energy experts Vidhi Taparia / Fortune India : BluSmart halts services amid Gensol crisis; Sebi action, funds crunch casts shadow on EV ride-hailing startup Prashant Tamta / DNA India : BluSmart...
Bengaluru-based fintech Scapia, which offers a travel-focused credit card and app, raised a $40M Series B led by Peak XV, bringing its total funding to $72M
The Economic Times :
Industry executives say Rapido has a 20% ride-hailing market share in India's four-wheeler segment, Uber has ~50%, and Ola holds most of the remaining 30%
The Economic Times :
Source: Perplexity has discussed raising as much as $500M to $1B in a new round that would double its valuation to $18B; its current ARR is nearly $100M
Doubling In Just 4 Months PYMNTS.com : Report: Perplexity in Talks to Raise Up to $1 Billion Archanarani / Verdict : Perplexity AI in talks to secure up to $1bn funding Jon Swartz / Techstrong.ai : Pe...
Salesforce says global online Thanksgiving day sales hit $33.6B, up 6% YoY, and $8.1B in the US, up 8% YoY; Adobe says US online sales hit $6.1B, up ~9% YoY
Do Not Buy From These Websites Nick Wingfield / The Information : Black Friday Sales Jump Over 10% China.org.cn : Salesforce says 33.6 bln USD spent online globally on Thanksgiving Day KXAN-TV : Small...
Singapore-based Zinc, which has offered financial services tools for overseas students since April 2024, raised a $25.5M seed led by Nexus Venture Partners
The Economic Times :
Sources: Peak XV cut its $2.85B fund by $465M, or ~16%, over a year after its Sequoia split, with most of the reduction coming in its growth-stage allocation
The Economic Times :