Paytm, one of India's leading mobile commerce player and consumer brand of Noida based startup One97 Communications is about to get funding of $200 million by the end of this year and has mandated investment banks Citi and Goldman Sachs to raise $150-200 million from private equity firms for a minority stake.
If everything will go as expected then Paytm will be latest online player to venture into fund raising for growth capital at a time when the e-commerce market in India is booming.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, chairman and managing director of One97 Communications that operates through the Paytm brand, said SAIF Partners, which owns 40% in the company, will do a pro-rata investment - put in 40% of the funds raised while the rest of the funds will come in from new investors. Sharma did not reveal names of private equity players who have been approached.
Paytm is the largest mobile wallet company and also the largest mobile commerce, or m-commerce, company in terms of number of transactions with over 14 million a month, including mobile recharges, tickets and shopping deals. With over 20 million active users, it has an annualised transaction value of $400-500 million.
Earlier in 2011, Paytm had raised $10 million in its third-round of funding from SAP Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of the software-maker SAP AG. The company's valuation during this round was nearly $300 million.
Paytm is the consumer brand of India's leading mobile internet company One97 Communications. One97 investors include SAIF Partners, Intel Capital and SAP Ventures.
Currently, Paytm have 20 million users apprx.. Paytm has scaled to more than 15 million orders per month and 7 million app downloads. With Paytm app users have the option of recharging and shopping from whenever, anywhere and are equipped with a secure online wallet called Paytm Cash.
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