Paytm is trying to raise funds from its current investors, Ant Financial (which is affiliated with Alibaba China) and Softbank. According to people who know about this new development, the funding should be anywhere between $1.5 Billion – $2 Billion. With this round of funding, Paytms valuation should reach around 16-18 Billion USD. Furthermore, there are speculations that other investors may also join in the funds.
Paytm has already been valued at $10 Billion and this happened after Warren Buffet invested $600 million in the company last year. The company also went through a second funding round where their valuation increased to $16 Billion.
Spokespeople have said “While SoftBank and Ant Financial capital is already in, the company is engaging with other investors and may look to take the round to as much as $2 billion. But it is most likely to be an internal round,”
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One of the main reasons why Paytm needs this funding is because the company needs to fend off other global competitors in order to maintain their ground. Its current main competitors include Walmart-owned Flipkart and its payments application PhonePe and Google Payment arm Google Pay (Earlier Known as Tez). The PhonePe is also in talks to raise external funding of $1 Billion. Another reason why these fundraising efforts are taking place is that they have downsized their e-commerce platform Paytm Mall quite substantially. Paytm mall is rumored to be in talks with ebay for more funding.
“The payments battle in India is a global one with deep-pocketed players in the fray and Paytm investors understand that if they don’t double down now they may lag behind. Currently, Paytm has shown market leadership but the lead needs to be maintained, which is why the capital raise is important,” Said an investor in the company.
A different investor also speculated that Ant Financials will value Paytm at 20% higher than its current valuation.
