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E-commerce unicorns and payments ponycorns

Why are Snapdeal and Flipkart pulling all stops to raise money for FreeCharge and PhonePe?

14/02/17

Rohin Dharmakumar

In PhonePe, Flipkart saw an opportunity to repair its self-inflicted wounds in payments

SoftBank, one of Snapdeal’s largest investors, is learned to have refused to put any money in either Snapdeal or FreeCharge

The reasons why neither FreeCharge nor PhonePe have been able to successfully raise funds are: high valuations, unrealistic expectations and non-existent moats

Unlike wallet apps like Paytm, MobiKwik or even FreeCharge, PhonePe has no merchant network or ownership

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FreeCharge, India’s second-largest mobile wallet company, must easily be the most sought after investment in Indian e-commerce, even though technically it isn’t even for sale.

How else would you explain the steady stream of deep-pocketed international investors that have been in the final stages of discussions to invest in it?

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