Paytm Mall looking to raise $600M from SoftBank

Paytm Mall is in talks to raise $600 million from SoftBank and others at a valuation of over $2 billion, according to a report in Business Standard.

Citing sources, the report says that the round will see participation from SoftBank, Singapore state investment arm Temasek Holdings and Primavera Capital Group, a China-based investment firm focusing on private equity and special situations opportunities.

As the initial tranche of funding to start Paytm Mall came from an internal based on funding of $200 million from Alibaba, Ant Financial and SAIF Partners, the valuation of the e-commerce arm of One97 Communications was never set. “After the completion of this round, Paytm Mall will officially be a unicorn as it valuation will swell to over $2 billion,” a source told BS.

A majority of the funding will be used for the offline expansion of the business, he added. This will be the first external funding for Paytm Mall after it was spun off from One97 Communications, which runs the payments platform Paytm.

Apparently, the talks for raising money started soon after SoftBank put in a $1.8 billion in the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led firm picking nearly 30 percent stake in the company last year. If the deal sees through, this will SoftBank’s third bet in the online retail market, after backing Snapdeal in 2014 and Flipkart in 2017.