The fresh funding will be used for expansion
On Monday Paytm announced that in a new round of financing it has raised 1billion US dollars. Paytm got an advantage by getting early in the market but now facing stiff competition from Google, PhonePe, and Facebook. This was the series G round of financing and saw participation from US asset manager T. Rowe Price, Ant Financials, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Discovery capital. This round took the total value of the company to 16 billion US dollars, which is greater than Grab and Gojek.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, The Chief Executive, and Founder said, “The firm will use the fresh capital to court merchants as the company looks to expand its presence among small and medium-sized businesses. The company will also work on expanding its financial offerings such as lending and insurance. Paytm, which also offers its mobile wallet service in Japan, has amassed 15 million merchants, most of whom have come online in recent years, in India.
The payment market in India growing exponentially
The fresh round of investment shows how the company sees the Indian Market as an opportunity for huge growth. As the market is growing, India is heating up to be the theatre of operation for giants such as Google, Wal-Mart, and Facebook. If we go by the current trend in the coming years the 200 Billion Us dollar Indian payment market might reach an unprecedented number of 1 trillion US dollars.
The payment app company has spread its wing in e-commerce, games, and ticketing as well. Paytm proactively signing the merchants from small cities and towns. Right now it is leading the peer-to-merchant market having around 2000 merchants under its belt. Involving local merchants is one of the beneficial ways to make some profit.
