PayTM, the online recharge and shopping portal and the operator of Paytm wallet, has received approval from its board to raise another $375 million from a unit of its existing Alibaba Group-owned AntPay. First reported by Livemint, fresh funds have reportedly come in as the company has exceeded the performance targets set by the investor for disbursal of funds.
After the deal, the company will be valued at around $1.83 billion, making it one of India’s four most valuable internet start-ups. As per the people familiar with the deal, the company is likely to receive the funds within the next six months. After the closing of deal, Alibaba’s Ant Financial Services’ stake in the company will be increased to 41%.
According to the documents filed by the company is Registrar of Companies (RoC), Alipay Singapore E-commerce Pvt. Ltd (now re-branded as Ant Financial Services) has already invested $200 million in Paytm in two tranches of $65 million and $135 million for a stake of 25.88%.
Also, the allotment of shares in the latest tranche of fund-raising needs to be completed within 12 months of the board passing the resolution approving it. The deal is subject to approval by Ant Financial Services.
The valuation of $1.83 billion will place the company among other most valuable internet start-ups of India, which includes Flipkart, Snapdeal and Ola.
PayTM currently has more than 66 million wallets and expects the number to cross 100 million by December. It is looking to cross monthly annualized sales of $4 billion in gross merchandising value by December, with nearly half of it coming from its marketplace business.
The company was founded in 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Till now, the company has raised around $200 million, latest being the $135 million it raised in April. Recently, it announced its new M-Commerce marketplace with zero commission model.
