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Shutdown · Financial Services

PhonePe shuts US office, gets UAE licence

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PhonePe logo
Date
Company
PhonePe
What it does
Digital payments and financial services platform
Kind
Shutdown
Sector
Financial Services

What they do

PhonePe is a digital payments and financial services platform offering UPI, investments, insurance, and more

What happened

PhonePe shut its US engineering office of 7-8 engineers due to cost-cutting and insufficient results, and received its first international licence from the…

Why it matters

The US office was announced in June 2022 and led by Gaurav Lochan, who left PhonePe in July 2026; the UAE licence allows merchant acquisition and…

The details

  • PhonePe shut down its US engineering office in the Bay Area.
  • The office had 7-8 engineers.
  • The closure was due to insufficient results and cost-cutting.
  • The US office was announced in June 2022, nearly four years before closure.
  • At launch, it planned to employ ~10 engineers to support the next 300 million users.
  • The office was led by Gaurav Lochan, a former Meta engineering exec who joined PhonePe in April 2022 as head of engineering.
  • Gaurav Lochan left PhonePe in July 2026 and is now an adviser at cybersecurity startup Aucert.
  • PhonePe received its first international licence from the Central Bank of the UAE.

The bigger picture

  • The US office closure reflects a broader cost-cutting push as PhonePe's net loss widened 62% to ₹2,792 crore in FY26.
  • PhonePe paused its IPO plans in March 2026 due to geopolitical tensions and market volatility.
  • The UAE licence marks PhonePe's first overseas market, allowing merchant acquisition, POS deployment, and foreign-exchange services.
  • PhonePe also partnered with Visa to launch three cardless payment solutions for India.

About the business

  • PhonePe offers UPI payments, investments, insurance, recharges, DTH, lending, gold, silver, travel, FASTag, bill payments, gift cards, NRI payments, and co-branded credit cards.
  • It provides merchant solutions including offline POS, payment gateway, payment aggregator, payment links, merchant lending, and PhonePe Ads.
  • PhonePe International enables UPI payments in Singapore, UAE, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Mauritius.
  • PhonePe Pulse is a data insights platform.
  • PhonePe offers mutual fund SIP starting at ₹10/day, gold SIP starting at ₹100/month, recurring deposits, and NPS.
  • PhonePe POS is a single device that accepts any payment method.
  • PhonePe Payment Aggregator charges zero cost for online businesses.

What happens next

  • PhonePe plans to use the UAE licence for merchant acquisition, POS deployment, and foreign-exchange services.
  • The UAE is planned as PhonePe's first overseas market.

Founders

  • Sameer Nigam, Founder
  • Rahul Chari, Founder

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