Walmart Inc-owned payments company PhonePe Pvt Ltd has acquired Explorium Innovative Technologies Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates GigIndia, a network for freelance micro-entrepreneurs for an undisclosed amount, the company said in a statement on Monday.
GigIndia claims to have 1.5 million entrepreneurs and over 100 enterprises as customers. As a part of the acquisition, GigIndia will integrate with PhonePe, the company said. PhonePe said it will leverage GigIndia's network of freelance micro-entrepreneurs to help corporates and enterprises acquire more customers and scale up their distribution channels.
This acquisition is expected to strengthen PhonePe’s offerings and value proposition to its enterprise partners and result in the creation of more opportunities for individual freelance micro-entrepreneurs in India, PhonePe said. The company said India’s freelance community is projected to grow to $20-30 billion by 2025, citing research reports.
“We are excited to welcome GigIndia’s team to PhonePe and leverage their domain expertise to offer value added services to our enterprise partners, helping them scale, expand and grow their businesses. GigIndia has already served many businesses, with its pool of high-quality, skilled freelance micro-entrepreneurs,” said Vivek Lohcheb, Head of Offline Business at PhonePe.
PhonePe, owned by Walmart-owned Flipkart Pvt Ltd, is a leading digital payments platform and claims to have over 365 million registered users. The platform enables users to send and receive money, recharge mobile, DTH (direct-to-home), pay at stores, make utility payments and also buy and invest in gold and silver.
“PhonePe is a leader in the digital payments space, and we are delighted to be joining forces with them. GigIndia has been a trusted partner for fast-growing enterprises across India and in PhonePe we have found a like-minded partner, who supports our vision,” said Sahil Sharma, Chief Executive Officer at GigIndia.
PhonePe forayed into financial services in 2017 with the launch of gold providing users with an option to buy 24-karat gold. The company also recently also launched silver on its platform. PhonePe has also introduced several mutual funds and insurance products like tax-saving funds, liquid funds, international travel insurance, life insurance, and insurance for the Covid-19 pandemic among others.