Indian digital payments platform PhonePe is in the final stages of talks in acquiring Indus OS, an Indian content and app discovery platform, in a deal worth $60 million. The acquisition is scheduled to be completed in the next few weeks. It is PhonePe’s second acquisition after Zopper Retail which was made in 2018.

The acquisition is expected to fuel PhonePe’s app ambitions. With Indus OS’ Indus App Bazaar providing access to over four lakh apps for 100 million-plus users in English and 12 Indian languages, PhonePe’s super app ambitions will receive the much-required shot in the arm. Founded by IIT alumni Rakesh Deshmukh, Akash Dongre, and Sudhir Bangarambandi, Indus OS started its journey over 7 years ago with the launch of a ‘Made in India’ operating system and later launched an AppStore — the Indus App Bazaar. It is an alternative Android-based app store that focuses on localization, simplicity, personalization, and performance optimization to enhance user experience and comes with an AI-driven app recommendation engine that optimizes user experience, giving them an option to search, browse and download apps based on their interests. It comes pre-bundled with all Samsung Galaxy phones in India and powers over 60 million devices and several third-party Android stores including Samsung’s Galaxy store. The users don't need an email address to download apps from Indus App Bazaar and are recommended apps based on their location and the languages they speak.

Post-acquisition, Indus OS with its team is expected to take over PhonePe Switch and build an app ecosystem for PhonePe. Indus OS has raised $25.2 million since its inception and is backed by investors including Samsung Venture, Omidyar Network, JSW Ventures, Ventureast, and Affle.