Early history; 2010-2019
Paytm was founded in August 2010 with an initial investment of US$2 million by its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma in Noida, Delhi NCR. It began as a prepaid mobile and DTH recharge platform, and later added debit card, postpaid mobile and landline bill payments in 2013.[15]
In October 2011, Sapphire Ventures (fka SAP Ventures) invested $10 million in One97 Communications Ltd.[16] By January 2014, the company had launched the Paytm Wallet, which the Indian Railways and Uber added as a payment option.[17] In 2015, it added education fees, metro recharges, electricity, gas, and water bill payments.[18] It also launched bus ticketing and travel booking.[19]
In 2015, China's Alibaba Group and its affiliate Ant Financial increased their combined stake in Paytm to 40%, making them its largest shareholders.[20] The same year, it raised funding from Ratan Tata, the MD of Tata Sons.[21] In August 2016, Paytm raised funding from MediaTek's investment fund at a valuation of over $5 billion.[22] Also in 2016, it launched movies, events and amusement parks ticketing,[23] Paytm QR,[24] and train ticket bookings.[25] California
In May 2017, Paytm raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank, at a valuation of over $8 billion.[27] In August 2018, Berkshire Hathaway invested $356 million in Paytm,[28][29] although Berkshire Hathaway confirmed that Warren Buffett was not involved in the transaction.[30]
In 2017, Paytm launched Paytm Gold, allowing users to buy digital gold.[31] It also launched Paytm Payments Bank[32][33] and ‘Inbox’, a messaging platform with in-chat payments.[34] By 2018, it started allowing merchants to accept Paytm, UPI and card payments into their bank accounts.[35][36] It also launched the ‘Paytm for Business’ app (now called Business with Paytm App) for merchants.[37]
In January 2018, it entered into a joint venture with Alibaba Group-owned gaming company AGTech Holdings to launch Gamepind, a mobile gaming platform.[38] It was rebranded as Paytm First Games in June 2019.[39] In March 2018, Paytm Money was started with an investment of ₹9 crore[40][41] for investment and wealth management.[42]
In March 2019, the firm launched a subscription based loyalty program called Paytm First.[43] In May 2019, it partnered with Citibank to launch Paytm First credit card.[44][45] On 25 November 2019, Paytm raised $1 billion in a funding round led by US asset manager T Rowe Price along with existing investors Ant Financial and SoftBank Vision Fund.[46]
