There could be another unicorn in the making with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank in advance talks with Paytm Mall to lead a fresh round of funding to the tune of Rs 3000.
Currently, Chinese ecommerce major Alibaba’s payments arm Ant financial holds the largest stake in Paytm and according to an Economic Times report, Paytm’s ecommerce arm could be valued at $2 billion (Rs 13,000 crore) post the funding round, making it join the unicorn club.
The funding round could also see China-based Primavera Capital Group and Temasek Holdings participate. These investors could pump in an additional Rs 1000 crore, as Paytm gears up to take on the bigwigs of the Indian ecommerce industry - Flipkart and Amazon.
Interestingly, both Primavera and Temasek have invested in various Alibaba Group companies, including Alibaba and Ant Financial.
SoftBank invested $1.8 billion in Paytm back in May 2017 and Business Standard reports that talks to raise money for Paytm Mall started soon after, making it the global investor’s third big bet on India’s ecommerce market. It invested in Snapdeal in 2014 and in Flipkart last year.
The deal with SoftBank, ET reports, is expected to close by the end of the month.
Paytm Mall’s initial investors Alibaba and SAIF partners, who invested $200 million in the ecommerce company last year, will also be participating in this funding round. Alibaba and Ant Financial, which hold majority stake, could become a significant minority post the funding round.
As Paytm Mall is expanding aggressively to take on Flipkart and Amazon, its current focus in on the grocery segment, from which it hopes to earn a gross merchandise value (GMV) of more than $3 billion, BS reports. And it is tying up with FMCG brands and hyperlocal players to increase its business.
It also recently started a new model of retail where customers can walk into brick-and-mortar stores, scan product QR codes, browse information about them and then make purchases via the Paytm Mall app.