Paytm Raises $1 Billion in the Latest Fundraising Round

The Indian payment application, Paytm has recently proclaimed an equity fundraise from a cohort of investment companies. Existing investors--SoftBank Vision Fund and Ant Financial and existing investors, encompassing funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc, amongst others participated in the funding rounds. 

Discovery Capital, an existing shareholder of the digital payment company, also partook in the funding round.

The digital payment application will be employing proceeds from the fresh investments to be directed towards increasing the Payments and Financial Services segment, according to the company’s statement. 

"At Paytm, we are committed to bringing half a billion Indians to the mainstream economy by onboarding them in the formal financial ecosystem. This new investment by our current and new investors is a reaffirmation of our commitment to serve Indians with new age financial services," Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO at Paytm said in the company’s official statement.

Gearing Towards a Digital India 

In the initial phase, the digital payment company, Paytm introduced low-cost digital transactions in India via its QR code technology in local retailers as well as shops. At present, the company is rendering services to the merchants in more than 2000 towns, as well as cites, beyond 650 districts. It targets to bring low-cost mobile enabled financial services to rural India. It will infuse and reinforce millions of rural Indians towards self-sustainability through job creation. 

The company decides to infuse INR 10,000 crore in the next three years to bring financial inclusion to more underserved users in the country 

Paytm Payments Bank, a new service rendered by Paytm, asserts to have come out as the largest digital bank in India with more than 50 million accounts. The online bank has also among the select few banks that have been mandated by MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) to drive the highest targets for merchant acquisition & digital transactions in the country. 

Another service, Paytm Money has achieved the distinction of becoming India's biggest investment platform within its first year, and is now one of the largest contributors of new Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) to the Mutual Funds industry. The company has already received approvals to launch Stock Broking, Demat Services and National Pension System (NPS) services, and strives to continue to broaden the financial services and wealth management opportunities to the unbanked and underserved Indians.