New Delhi, Jul 31 (IANS): Amid a deepening funding crunch, leading US investment firm Fidelity has reportedly slashed the estimated worth of its holding in homegrown conversational engagement platform Gupshup by over 20 per cent in a month.

Fidelity has devalued its holdings in Gupshup by 50 per cent since its initial investment, TechCrunch reported on Monday.

Fidelity had invested $16.2 million in Gupshup in mid-2021 in a round that valued it at $1.4 billion.

At June end, Fidelity valued its holding in Gupshup at $8.08 million, down from $10.15 million a month prior, the report mentioned. The business messaging platform had raised $340 million from investors such as Tiger Global.

The conversational engagement platform in June this year said it was bringing the convenience of UPI payments on feature phones.

"This innovative capability will bring vast numbers of feature phone users into the digital and payments ecosystem. We're glad to work with NPCI and Nokia and Airtel Payments Bank to make this a reality," Beerud Sheth, CEO and Co-founder, Gupshup, had said in a statement.

Last year, Gupshup acquired OneDirect, an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled customer service platform, for an undisclosed sum. Gupshup is the leading conversational messaging platform, powering over 7 billion messages per month (as last reported).

It is present in regions like India, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the US.