India-based mobile internet company One97 Communications is looking to raise up to $100m for its Paytm online payment subsidiary, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has told VCCircle.
Paytm was incubated in One97 and launched in 2009. It gives users a range of payment options including the ability to pay mobile phone or utility bills, but has since expanded to a range of services and accumulated more than 12 million registered users.
The company aims to increase the rate of payments on its platform from the 10 million made last month to one million orders per day by the end of 2015.
“We need capital to achieve this goal, and we will go to the market to raise funding in the range of $100 million after three months,” Sharma explained.
“We prefer Asian investors for investment because they understand the market and opportunities much better than their Western counterparts.”
Paytm’s parent company recently earmarked more than $25m for acquisitions that can complement the mobile commerce company’s core services as it adds features that would allow big payments such as school fees or insurance premiums to be made on the platform.
One97’s investors include Intel Capital, the corporate venturing arm of semiconductor maker Intel, software producer SAP, which invested $10m in 2011, SAIF Partners and Silicon Valley Bank.