Online auction portal eBay has paid between $150m and $200m to acquire a 5.5% stake in India-based e-commerce platform Paytm Mall, TechCrunch reported today.
The transaction valued Paytm Mall at $3bn, a source told TechCrunch.
Paytm Mall was formed by mobile payment platform Paytm in 2016 as an online marketplace for brick and mortar stores, though the company has since been restructured into a separate subsidiary of One97 Communications, the online services group that also owns Paytm.
In recent months, Paytm Mall has shifted its business model to offline-to-online and online-to-offline transactions, and has orders fulfilled by local outlets rather than through a central warehouse. Paytm Mall said it currently has more than 100,000 sellers on its platform.
As part of its strategic agreement with Paytm Mall, eBay will make more than a million products available through the former’s platform. The two companies will jointly select the inventory and expect to conclude that process within a month.
Jooman Park, senior vice-president of eBay’s Asia Pacific business, said: “We are deeply committed to India and believe there is huge growth potential and significant opportunity in this dynamic market.
“This new relationship will accelerate our cross-border trade efforts in a rapidly growing market, providing hundreds of millions of Paytm and Paytm Mall customers with access to eBay’s unparalleled selection of goods.”
Paytm Mall previously collected $227m in funding from internet and telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank and e-commerce group Alibaba in June 2018, with the amount representing the third tranche of a planned $445m round.
Details about the first two tranches have not been disclosed, however.
Alibaba led a $200m funding round for Paytm Mall in March 2017, investing alongside SAIF Partners.
SoftBank injected $1.4bn into One97 in May 2017 that included the purchase of $400m worth of shares from existing backers SAIF Partners and One97 founder Vijay Shekhar.
