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Chinese ecommerce giant, Alibaba Group Holding and its affiliate Ant Financial Services Group have announced to make an undisclosed amount of investment in One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm.
Ant Financial had invested in Paytm in February 2015 and is also offering strategic and technical support to the company.
Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group said, “India is an important emerging market with strong ecommerce potential, and we look forward to partnering with Paytm to deliver innovative products and services to consumers. Supporting the success of local homegrown entrepreneurial companies has long been an important part of Alibaba Group’s globalization strategy. This investment will further expand Alibaba Group’s global footprint to India’s thriving mobile commerce market.”
The fresh capital infusion will allow Paytm to achieve scale and develop its vibrant mobile commerce and payment ecosystem in India and invest in marketing, technology and talent. On the other side, investing in Paytm will enhance the ability of Alibaba and Ant Financial to tap opportunities in India’s fast-growing mobile commerce marketplace and digital finance industry.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO of Paytm said, “Paytm is building India’s most dominant mobile payment and commerce ecosystem. With the Alibaba and Ant Financial partnerships, we look to bring half a billion Indians to the mainstream economy and help millions of small businesses leverage this large m-commerce opportunity. This investment by Alibaba and Ant Financial is a reaffirmation of their belief and commitment to the long term Paytm opportunity.”
According to the people ET, with the deal, Alibaba will pick up about 20% stake through a fresh issue of shares by investing about $680 Mn (around INR 4,450 Cr).
Paytm has recently crossed 100 Mn Paytm Wallet users who carry out over 75 Mn transactions every month.
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