After this investment Paytm has become the biggest investment for SoftBank in the Indian startup space.
Paytm, which is run by One97 Communications Limited, has announced that it has raised $ 1.4 billion from the Japanese investor Softbank Group corp. It has been one of the largest funding rounds from a single investor. Paytm has become the biggest startup to receive such an amount from in the whole start-up scene in India.
SoftBank has many successful investments in the Indian startup portfolio. However, it is hoping to replicate the success of Alipay run by Alibaba group’s financial business wing in China. After demonetization in India Paytm has surged to 50 million subscribed users on the Google app store. SoftBank is hoping to increase its fortunes in the hopes of success from its investment in Paytm.
Paytm is planning to invest this fund to increase the connectivity of people with the mainstream economy in India. In the coming next 3 to 5 years this would be the priority for the company. Paytm in a statement has clarified that it is the vision of the company to launch the Paytm Payments Bank for which, it has already got the nod from RBI. This would be the first step towards a mobile-first banking product that will be able to reach every corner of the country and help those who are still not covered under the electronic banking services.
The investments from SoftBank and Alibaba has made Paytm the second most valuable Internet firm in the country. At present, it has over 500 million customers and is planning to launch several financial services products into the market. Ranging from Wealth Management, Money Lending and Deposits.
The Payments Bank Function Services will be launched officially on 23rd May. Apart from it Paytm has partnered with ICICI and Bank of Baroda to enable lending services to the masses.
Paytm came into existence in August 2010 as a simple platform to recharge and pay bills online. It was in January 2014 that Paytm launched its Paytm wallet which currently boasts a membership of 220 million users and is also used by over 5 million merchants for the offline businesses across India.
Softbank and Paytm have become a strong partner and the field of fintech industry is getting exciting.
