BillDesk founders have to slog again towards a distant IPO

Why read this story?

Editor's note: After the Prosus deal fell through last month, BillDesk is weighing an initial public offering, according to three industry executives aware of the matter.  While an IPO is unlikely before 2024, a challenging funding environment, coupled with the founders’ aspirations to eventually step down from BillDesk’s day-to-day operations, makes a stock exchange listing the most likely next step as the 22-year-old payment gateway looks to put a failed buyout behind it, they said, on condition of anonymity. On 3 October, the Amsterdam-based investment group called off a $4.7 billion deal to acquire BillDesk and merge it with its payments arm, PayU, citing unmet conditions before the time frame agreed upon to consummate the agreement. The BillDesk founders—M.N. Srinivasu, Ajay Kaushal and Karthik Ganapathy—had earlier decided to step down within 12 to 18 months of the merger, said the executives cited above. They were planning to pursue independent interests in social impact and angel investing by setting up family offices and mentoring, said two of the three executives. The trio, who together own 30% of the firm, would have pocketed around …