Paytm stated on Monday it has raised $1 billion in a brand new financing spherical because the Noida-headquartered agency, which as soon as dominated the native cellular funds market, makes an attempt to battle again giants Google, Walmart’s PhonePe, and Facebook.
The firm stated the brand new financing spherical, dubbed Series G, was led by U.S. asset supervisor T. Rowe Price. Existing traders Ant Financials (contributed $400 million), SoftBank Vision Fund (contributed $200 million), and Discovery Capital additionally participated within the spherical, which valued the corporate at about $16 billion — increased than another native startup and a number of the high-profile Asian startups similar to Grab and Gojek.
Paytm cellular pockets allows customers to switch cash to one another, pay for meals supply and clear utility payments, purchase prepare and film tickets in addition to safe small loans. One97 Communications, which operates Paytm, has raised greater than $3.3 billion so far.
Paytm founder and chief government Vijay Shekhar Sharma (pictured above) stated the agency will use the contemporary capital to court docket retailers as the corporate seems to be to broaden its presence amongst small and medium-sized companies. The firm may also work on increasing its monetary choices similar to lending and insurance coverage. Paytm, which additionally provides its cellular pockets service in Japan, has amassed 15 million retailers, most of whom have come on-line lately, in India, he stated.
“This new investment by our current and new investors is a reaffirmation of our commitment to serve Indians with new-age financial services,” he stated.
The massive buck comes as India turns into the latest funds battleground for main world giants Google, Walmart, and Facebook . According to Credit Suisse, the digital funds market in India will probably be price $1 trillion within the subsequent 4 years, up from about $200 billion at present.
According to trade estimates, greater than 100 million folks in India at present use cellular funds providers. Paytm, which led the native market in peer-to-peer cellular funds two years in the past, noticed its each day utilization skyrocket after New Delhi invalidated a lot of the money in circulation within the nation in late 2016. (Other native cellular pockets providers such MobiKwik and Freecharge additionally reported development in the course of the interval.)
At an organization occasion in late 2016, Sharma instructed ecstatic workers that “nobody can beat Paytm. India finally has its own technology giant.” But within the following months, a rating of corporations together with Amazon, Google, and Samsung entered the funds market in India, leveraging an open funds infrastructure referred to as UPI (Unified Payments Interface) constructed by a coalition of banks — and backed by the federal government.
National Payments Corporation of India, which oversees UPI infrastructure, revealed earlier this month that UPI had surpassed a 100 million customers. In October alone this 12 months, UPI topped a billion transactions.
Google Pay and Flipkart’s PhonePe at present lead the peer-to-peer funds, in response to trade estimates. Google Pay has amassed over 67 million month-to-month lively customers, the corporate revealed earlier this 12 months. Flipkart’s PhonePe is valued at $10 billion.
An worker stands at a counter as an indication for PayTM on-line cost technique, operated by One97 Communications Ltd., is displayed at a quick meals restaurant in Bengaluru, India. Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg by way of Getty Images
Paytm, within the meantime, has targeted on increasing to different classes similar to e-commerce platform, video games, and ticketing enterprise. The firm can also be aggressively making an attempt to enroll retailers throughout small cities and cities in India. The firm, which is serving retailers in over 2,000 cities and cities within the nation, leads the peer-to-merchant market, in response to inside slides seen by TechSwitch.
As competitors in India will increase, so have the bills for varied gamers. Paytm posted a lack of $549 million within the monetary 12 months that led to March, up from $206 million it reported in loss the 12 months earlier than. PhonePe and Amazon Pay, posted a collective losses that totaled over $500 million within the monetary 12 months ending March.
In September, Paytm stated that over the following two years it will make investments one other $2.7 billion within the enterprise. Sharma instructed TechSwitch in an interview earlier that the corporate plans to think about submitting for its IPO after two to 3 years. In final six months, he claimed the corporate has minimize its “burn” by greater than a 3rd.

Today, we open subsequent chapter in Paytm’s journey of India’s monetary inclusion. We commit to take a position extra ₹10,000 crore to serve financially unserved / underserved. Thank you to your steerage and help.Dedicating it with my college time favourite Jai Shankar Prasad poem:
— Vijay Shekhar (@vijayshekhar) November 25, 2019

Engaging with retailers is without doubt one of the few methods a funds agency within the nation can at present make earnings. At a fintech convention in Bangalore final week, hosted by agency Razorpay, Sajith Sivanandan, Managing Director and Business Head of Google Pay and Next Billion User Initiatives, stated present native guidelines have pressured Google Pay to function and not using a clear enterprise mannequin.
Answering a query from the viewers, he urged the native funds our bodies to “find ways for payment players to make money” to make sure each stakeholder had incentives to function.
If these challenges weren’t sufficient, WhatsApp, which has amassed extra customers than another service in India, is anticipated to roll out its funds service to all of its 400 million customers within the nation within the coming weeks.
At the identical convention, Abhijit Bose, head of WhatsApp in India, stated the Facebook-owned agency believes that India has simply begun its funds revolution. At one other convention earlier this month, Bose stated the corporate sees large alternatives in India and hopes to supply a variety of monetary providers to folks within the nation over the approaching years.
Asked about WhatsApp Pay’s inevitable rollout, Google Pay’s Sivanandan stated, “it’s fantastic. Much of the market remains untapped and we need more players.”