Ant Financial-backed Indian fintech giant Paytm has raised the country’s largest anchor round of INR 82.3 billion (USD 1.1 billion) as part of its USD 2.4 billion initial public offering, which is expected to be the biggest IPO in the South Asian nation.
The anchor round, which was oversubscribed by 10 times, saw participation from a wide range of global investors, from sovereign funds to institutional investors. Singapore’s GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and BlackRock snatched up an aggregation of more than USD 337 million in this funding round, according to Paytm’s filings with the local regulator. Other investors include Swiss banking giant UBS, US hedge fund Janus Henderson, domestic fund Aditya Birla Mutual Fund, Dutch pension investment institution APG, and South Korea’s Mirae Asset.
Through this round of financing, Paytm has raised almost half of its USD 2.4 billion IPO target. The IPO is slated to open for subscription on November 8 for three days and close on November 10. The share price band has been fixed at between USD 27.91 and 28.85 apiece.
Initially, Paytm filed for a USD 2.2 billion IPO in July but then increased its offering size and aimed at a valuation of between USD 19.5 billion and 20 billion.
Launched in mid-2010 as a mobile payment service provider before it expanded its tentacles into various sectors with mixed results, Paytm now connects more than 337 million registered users to over 21.8 million merchants on its platform. Its revenue in Q2 this year surged more than 66% on the back of widened losses. Payment and financial services are the main drivers of the company’s revenue, accounting for almost 80% of its total revenue, according to the company’s prospectus.
Paytm’s IPO comes at a time when the country is experiencing an IPO boom. Zomato’s stellar IPO in July created a number of opportunities for Indian consumer tech startups. Nykaa’s well-received IPO last month continued the country’s IPO momentum. The successful IPOs of a small cluster of Indian startups are leading more players to ponder their listings while they are still enjoying COVID-induced digitization, in addition to attracting more and more global investors to one of the largest startup markets in Asia.
