Startup Digest: Mega Fintech deal; PayU acquires BillDesk for $4.7 billion

In the biggest fintech deal India has ever seen global payment merchant PayU will acquire Indian payments gateway firm BillDesk for $4.7 billion. This is the biggest ever exit-sale by an Indian startup. Topping the billion dollar sale of Aakash Institute to Byju’s. The sale also gave an exit to existing investors of the payment aggregrator which has marquee names such as Genreal Atlantic, Visa, Temasek.

So, what does PayU get with BillDesk?

Mumbai-based BillDesk is one of the biggest payment aggregator gateway platforms in India.
Despite having first mover advantage with PayTm the fintech has been facing competition from Infibeam CCAvenues, PayU, Razorpay, etc. Prosus-backed fintech firm PayU already operates in more than 20 markets. This acquisition gives them a strong foothold into India where fintech is booming. According to the FY21 annual report of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the number of transactions for digital retail payments has grown by more than 80% from 24 billion in 2018-19 to 44 billion to 2020-21.