Japanese international holdings firm SoftBank Group and Alibaba are investing $445m in India’s Paytm E-Commerce in a funding round that will value the online retailer at $1.9bn.
Of the total investment, SoftBank is offering $400m and Alibaba, Paytm’s existing investor, is putting in $45m.
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According to a filing with India’s Registrar of Companies, SoftBank will own 21% stake in Paytm E-Commerce after the investment.
SoftBank said in a statement: “We believe Paytm Mall’s offline-to-online operating model, combined with the strength of the Paytm ecosystem, is uniquely positioned to enable India’s 15 million offline retail shops to participate in India’s e-commerce boom.”
Alibaba.Com Singapore e-Commerce, a retail arm of Alibaba Group, currently owns 36.3% of Paytm’s stake and will remain the single-largest shareholder of Paytm following the investment, but with a smaller stake of just over 30%.
Paytm Mall chief operating officer Amit Sinha said: “The company would deploy the latest investment from SoftBank and Alibaba to beef up its technology and build superior logistics among other things.”
Last August, SoftBank Group had invested $2.5bn in Indian e-commerce retailer Flipkart.
SoftBank is also one of the biggest investors in another Indian e-tailer Snapdeal.
Paytm Mall also announced in the same month that it would invest $5m in order to enable small merchants to open online stores.
The development is part of Paytm’s ‘Retailer Inclusion Programme’, which aims to enable shopkeepers to compete against large online retailers.
A team comprising 500 employees has been formed to offer services to retailers such as sales, merchandising to working capital.
