Razorpay's Harshil Mathur on surviving ~100 bank rejections to build a $7.5 bn payments giant
Co-founder Harshil Mathur recounts how Razorpay overcame nearly 100 bank rejections to build a merchant-first payment gateway now valued near $7.5 billion. The profile also flags Razorpay's confidential DRHP filing, signaling an imminent IPO push.
What happened
Razorpay co-founder Harshil Mathur recounts overcoming nearly 100 bank rejections to build the merchant-first payment gateway now valued around $7.5 billion.
Key facts
- $7.5 billion valuation
- nearly 100 bank rejections
Why this matters
Razorpay's pre-IPO positioning at ~$7.5 bn narrows the acquisition window and reframes it as a potential partnership or competitive benchmark rather than a buy target.
What to watch
- Conversion of confidential DRHP to public filing and price band disclosure
- RBI regulatory actions or license renewals affecting payment aggregators
- Peer fintech listing performance (Paytm, PB Fintech, PhonePe plans) as valuation anchors
- Reverse-flip tax outflow figures and completion timeline
- Quarterly take-rate and net revenue trends signaling margin durability
- Firm up profitability and disclosed unit economics to justify the payments-plus-lending/neobanking multiple
- Complete domicile reverse-flip to India and settle associated tax liabilities pre-listing
- Secure and publicize RBI payment aggregator license status to de-risk regulatory narrative
- Line up marquee anchor investors and diversify revenue beyond core payment gateway