Paytm Mall Set For Raising $600 Million

Alibaba backed Paytm Mall is set to raise $ 600 million in a fresh round of funding and is looking for potential investors from across Asia and USA. A news daily reported, the Noida based company has already initiated discussions to raise Rs. 3,000 – Rs. 4,000 crores.

According to one of the sources, Paytm Mall is looking to close the new funding round by the end of this year to compete with Flipkart and Amazon. The company, owned and operated by One97 Communications Limited, was expected to take the third spot in the country’s ecommerce market following Snapdeal’s decline. Launched as an initiative to bridge the gap between offline and online shopping, they have been aggressively scouting for acquisitions and strategic investments to gain the number one position.

Paytm Mall has been looking to strengthen its business since the beginning of the year. The ecommerce firm raised $200 million from SAIF Partners and Alibaba Group Holding recently and lined up Rs. 1,000 crore to spend on marketing, cash back and promotions during September and October. They also invested $ 35 million in their technology and logistics infrastructure to strengthen the logistics network ahead of the crucial festive season. In the 4 day festive season sale, the company claims to have generated a gross revenue of Rs. 900 crores and is targeting a $ 4 billion gross merchandise volume (GMV) run rate by end of this year. In an effort to reboot their business, they also delisted close to 85,000 sellers and cut off half of their logistics partners in July. The ecommerce site was also in talks to invest $ 200 million in the online grocery startup BigBasket.

Paytm, which started as mobile payments and digital wallet platform, has scaled to over 250 million registered users to become one of India’s largest mobile payments and commerce startups. The company is yet to comment on its plans for a fresh funding round.