One97 Communications, the India-based operator of mobile payment service Paytm, has secured $60m in new funding from venture capital firm SAIF Partners, CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma has told VCCircle.
The cash was raised as part of a round expected to eventually raise between $150m and $200m. One97 has so far raised $28m from backers including semiconductor chip producer Intel, software producer SAP, SAIF and Silicon Valley Bank.
Sharma, who said the company has begun talks with additional investors, said: “$60m is confirmed from SAIF (Partners) so far…we need $150m, however the offers have gone up to $250m. But since our business model doesn’t require that much money we will see how much more money will we raise.”
Paytm, launched in January, has 15 million active wallets on its mobile bill payment platform and is reportedly aiming to boost that number to 50 million by March 2015.