India-based online retailer Paytm Mall has obtained $227m in funding from telecoms and internet group SoftBank and e-commerce company Alibaba, Livemint reported on Tuesday citing a regulatory filing.
The money forms part of a $445m funding round first announced in April 2018, with the $227m marking a third tranche towards that amount. Details about the two first tranches have not been revealed.
SoftBank is planning to invest a total of $384m as part of the round, with the remainder to come from Alibaba, at a reported valuation of $1.6bn to $2bn.
Paytm Mall was originally established by mobile payment platform Paytm in 2016 to operate an online marketplace for brick and mortar stores. It has partnered some 75,000 stores and is aiming to treble that number by the end of next year.
Since its launch, the company has been restructured into a separate subsidiary owned by One97 Communications, the e-commerce and online services group that owns Paytm.
Kabir Misra, managing director of SoftBank’s corporate venturing arm SoftBank Capital, will reportedly join the board of directors. Michael Evans, president of Alibaba, has stepped down from the board.
Paytm Mall previously secured $200m in a round led by Alibaba in March 2017, with participation from SAIF Partners.
SoftBank already owned a 20% stake in One97, after it paid $1.4bn in in May 2017 that included the purchase of $400m worth of shares from existing backers SAIF Partners and One97 founder Vijay Shekhar.