L&L Partners acted for and advised Steadview Group in its investment in BharatPe in Series D round of funding

By LE Staff

New Delhi, May 17: L&L Partners’ Corporate Structuring team recently acted for and advised the Steadview Group in investment in the Series D round of funding of BharatPe (Resilient Innovations Private Limited) at a post-money valuation of over Rs 6,550 crore (USD 900 million).

Under the Series D round of founding, BharatPe raised over Rs 650 crore (USD 90 million) in primary fund raise, and also ensured secondary exit for its angel investors and employees for a total amount of over Rs 130 crore (USD 18 million), the law firm said in a statement.

The funding round was led by the BharatPe’s existing investor Coatue Management, with the participation from other existing investors – Steadview Group, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital.

L&L Partners advised on all legal aspects of the investment – from advising on the review, negotiation, finalization and execution of the definitive transaction documents to the closing of the transaction, the statement said.

The transaction team was led by Mr. Vaibhav Kakkar and Mr. Snigdhaneel Satpathy (Partners), and Mr. Keshav Pareek, Ms. Mincy Mathew and Mr. Paayas Pandit (Associates).

The law firm had to advise and support Steadview Group, which was an existing investor, in respect of all the stages of the transactions, including multiple rounds of negotiations and discussions with various stakeholders, including the Company. Given the multiplicity of investors and interests, the team had to quickly turnaround several iterations of the transaction documents, L&L Partners said.

The team assisted the client in aspects relating to closing of the transaction, had several rounds of discussions with company and did a quick turnaround for ensuring that the transaction is consummated within desired timelines, it said.

Significance of the deal

This was one of the fastest round closures for any start-up in India, the law firm said in the statement. 

“The transaction enables our client, Steadview Group to establish its presence in a key market sector that is primed for growth in the years to come. The online digital payments sector is perceived as one of the biggest upcoming sectors in India. This deal would enable BharatPe to expand its market presence, given the competition that it faceswith other digital payments companies such as Paytm, PhonePe and Google Pay. This in turn would deliver enhanced value for its investors, including the Steadview Group,” it said.

About BharatPe

Bharat Pe is engaged in running of the online digital payments platform ‘BharatPe’ and provides services to offline retailers/ merchants with respect to payments, lending and other financial services. BharatPe is one of the largest B2B fintech lenders in the country, facilitating over Rs 200 crores of loans to its merchant partners every month through its NBFC partners. The platform offers the merchants unified payments interface, for inter-bank transactions across various payment wallets. It also acts as a networking platform for small and medium scale merchants to connect with other registered merchants and collaborate with them for expansion of their businesses.