Country’s most accepted payment wallet Paytm has relinquished a valuation of about $10 billion (approx Rs 63,537 crores), the company announced on Monday.
The valuation was achieved following a secondary sale where existing and former employees sold part of their ESOPs to new investors including undisclosed family offices and a few western offices for Rs 300 crores (approx $47.2 million).
Company valuation rises close to USD 10 billion in the latest round.
-Paytm reported.
The company was previously valued at around $7 billion in May following a funding round where Japanese investor SoftBank invested $1.4 billion (approx Rs 9,000 crores) in parent company One 97 Communications. This made Paytm the second most valuable startup in the country after Flipkart at $12 billion.
Around 200 Paytm employees liquidated their employee stock options (ESOPs) for Rs 300 crores, the report added. ESOPs are benefits aside from salary offered to employees in the form of shares in the company.
Paytmers who have been with the company since inception to as early as one year has benefited.
-said Paytm.
Over a year ago, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma sold 1 percent of his share in the company for Rs 325 crores to raise money for Paytm Payments Bank, a mobile-first bank that went official in November 2017.
The mobile wallet app became extremely popular following demonetisation in November 2016. The company’s success has enabled it to expand its verticals that include Paytm Payments Bank, Paytm Mall and Paytm Money among other things.
Meanwhile, Indian e-commerce platform Flipkart also recently disbursed $100 million for repurchasing ESOPs of over 3000 present and former employees. SoftBank has been investing in both Flipkart and Paytm for a while now.
In fact, SoftBank began backing Flipkart in August after investing $2.5 billion to take on Amazon India. The investment came after SoftBank failed to merge Snapdeal with Flipkart.
Online games are available in many forms and types including online gambling and sports betting.…
We live in a digital world, and every business, whether it's a brick-and-mortar shop or…
There is no denying that the pandemic has been rough on everyone. We have had…
Building your online presence can be challenging for both newcomers and the already initiated, but…
The smartphone market offers a variety of smartphones from brands both well and less known…
After a hard day’s work, you probably like to kick back on your couch and…