India's Paytm confirms $60m round

Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Sharma confirmed the investment to TechCrunch, reporting a valuation of $4.8 billion. Citing sources close to the company, TechCrunch also reported that MediaTek's investment is part of a larger funding round that is expected to close at $300 million in the next few months, with participation by new and existing investors.

The company plans to use the new capital to launch Paytm Payments Bank, an online financial institution allowing consumers to save and borrow money. It will also pursue further expansion opportunities and make improvements to its existing services in payments and e-commerce. Paytm offers online payments for event tickets, utility bills, hotels and car rides, and also manages an online marketplace.

Founded as a division of mobile services company One97 Communications before being spun off last year, Paytm's best-known product is its digital wallet. The company claims to have 135 million digital wallets in use, about 75% of the digital wallets in India, and to handle three million transactions per day.

Mountain's investment is intended to expand business opportunities for Mediatek, a major provider of mobile phone chipsets. The company hopes to pursue collaboration opportunities with Paytm through hardware, such as enhanced security for Paytm's applications.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and its online finance affiliate Ant Financial Services Group are among Paytm's existing investors. Ant Financial paid a reported $550 million for a 25% stake last year, which was later reduced to 25% when Alibaba bought a 20% interest for $680 million. Ant Financial, which operates its own mobile wallet under the Alipay brand, has been pursuing synergies with Paytm since its initial investment.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Greater China
• Technology
• Financials
• Expansion
• India
• Taiwan (China)
• TMT
• Alibaba Group