Woah! Paytm Is Now Officially Worth $10 Bn; 200 Employees Are Now Millionaires!

So, it is now official.

Paytm, India’s largest mobile wallet and one of the fastest growing payments bank has officially become worth $10 billion.

Along with that, it was also revealed that 200 Paytm employees have now become millionaires, as the valuation increased by 43%.

In a related news, Paytm and Alibaba have launched a new gaming platform in India, which will be available in their app, very soon.

Paytm: $10 Billion Startup, Officially!

Last week, we had speculated that Paytm can become a $10 billion startup, as some rumours of secondary share sale were brewing.

Paytm has now confirmed the rumours that a major secondary sale of shares actually did happen, and this has resulted in the new valuation of Paytm, which is $10 billion or Rs 65,000 crore.

In a reply, Paytm said, “Company valuation rises close to USD 10 billion in latest round,”

As per incoming reports, besides the secondary sale of shares, few new investors have also come on-board, which includes some unnamed family investors, and few ‘western investors’.

Last year, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma had sold 1% of his share to raise Rs 325 crore. It is not clear whether those shares have now been bought back or not.

Besides, around 200 employees of Paytm have sold their ESOPs for rumoured Rs 300 crore; which makes every one of them a new millionaire.

On the issue of employees striking gold, Paytm said,

“Paytmers who have been with the company since inception to as early as one year have benefited,”

Now, Paytm has become India’s second biggest startup with a valuation of $10 billion, which is second only to Flipkart, whose valuation is $12 billion.

Softbank is a common investor in both of these Unicorn startups.

Paytm, Alibaba Launch Gaming Platform

Meanwhile, further expanding their reach and services, Paytm has now launched a new gaming platform called Gamewind. This new gaming venture would be 45% owned by Alibaba Group-owned AGTech Holdings Ltd and 55% by Paytm.

While One97, the parent company of Paytm invested $8.8 million for their 55% stake, AGTech Holdings has invested $7.2 million for their 45% stake. The games would be available both in a standalone app and in Paytm app.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the chief executive officer of Paytm said,

“We are happy to partner with AGTech to build an incredible gaming destination. AGTech’s expertise and experience in global gaming market will help us accelerate our plans in gaming and bring exciting content to our users,”

As per initial reports, Gamewind will offer social games, sports games with an exclusive rewards program.