India-based e-commerce and payment company One97 Communications is seeking up to $400m in funding in the first half of this year, TechCrunch reported yesterday, citing sources close to the company.
Founded in 2000, One97 oversees a range of online services as well as a corporate venturing unit called One97 Mobility Fund, but is best known for Paytm, the online payment platform it incubated and launched in 2010.
The company, which counts e-commerce group Alibaba among its investors, will use the new capital to support a split between One97’s e-commerce operations and Paytm, which will henceforth operate under the name of Paytm Payment Bank.
The new company will expand from payments into mobile banking services, having received a payment bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India in August 2015.
One97 raised about $20m in initial funding from SAIF Partners before securing an undisclosed amount of series B capital from SAIF, Silicon Valley Bank and chip manufacturer Intel’s corporate venturing unit Intel Capital, in 2009.
SAP Ventures, then a subsidiary of enterprise software company SAP, reportedly invested $10m in 2011, before SAIF added another $60m in late 2014.
Alibaba and its financial services affiliate Ant Financial invested $680m in One97 in September 2015, after acquiring a 25% stake earlier in the year as part of a strategic partnership.
Alibaba and Ant Financial now hold a combined 40% stake in the company, with SAIF owning 30% and founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma 20%.
TechCrunch reported One97’s plans alongside news that it has reportedly entered talks with India-based e-commerce company Flipkart over strategic partnership opportunities, with a merger among the possibilities mooted.
A person directly familiar with the matter told TechCrunch: “Early talks have been about creating a structure where the marketplaces of Paytm and Flipkart could be combined.”