Paytm raises Rs 9,100 cr from Softbank, valuation soars to over Rs 52,000 cr

Homegrown mobile payment and e-commerce platform Paytm, run by One97 Communication Ltd, has raised $1.4 billion (approx. Rs 9,100 crore) funding from Japanese internet and telecom major SoftBank Group, the company said here on Thursday.

"Paytm plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore (approximately $1.6bn) over the next three to five years towards its commitment to enabling half a billion Indians to join the mainstream economy. As a part of this vision, the company will soon launch the Paytm Payments Bank, a mobile-first product that will reach every corner of the nation, and focus on the millions of unserved and under-served Indians," the company statement said.

Founder and CEO of Paytm Vijay Shekhar said, "This investment by Softbank and support of the incredible entrepreneur Masa Son is a great endorsement of our team's execution and vision. We believe we have a great opportunity to bring financial inclusion to half a billion Indians,".

"In line with the Indian government's vision to promote digital inclusion, we are committed to transforming the lives of hundreds of millions of Indian consumers and merchants by providing them digital access to a broad array of financial services, including mobile payments. We are excited to partner with Paytm in this journey and will provide them with all our support," said Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO, SoftBank Group Corp.

Paytm has recently announced that the operations of it payment bank will be starting from May 23.

"We are in the process of launching Paytm Payments Bank on May 23. We recently received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for Renu Satti to be the CEO," a Paytm spokesperson told IANS here.

The move by SoftBank will make it the biggest stakeholder in Paytm’s parent company, One97 Communications, pushing Chinese internet giant Alibaba to second spot.

Alibaba was the largest shareholder in the Paytm with 20 per cent stake besides One97 Communication Ltd, which is the parent company of Paytm.

With the biggest round of funding ever by an Indian e-commerce firm, Paytm has managed to close this round at a valuation of over $8 billion (approx. Rs 52,000 cr), putting it just $2 billion away from Flipkart.

Paytm was launched in August 2010 as an online recharges and bill payments platform and soon expanded into online and offline use-cases.

In January 2014, it launched the Paytm Wallet. It now has over 220 million users and has over five million offline merchants across India.