The ecommerce arm of Indian fintech giant Paytm has raised $445 million from Japan's Softbank and China's Alibaba. Softbank is pumping $400 million into Paytm Mall, while Alibaba is contributing $45 million - a year after it took a majority stake in the unit through a $177 million investment. The deal values Paytm at nearly $2 billion, with Alibaba holding a 46% stake and Softbank a 21% slice. With its huge mobile payments userbase and Alibaba's ecommerce nous, Paytm Mall is aiming to become a major player in India's ecommerce sector, taking on the likes of Amazon and FlipKart. Says a Softbank statement: "We believe Paytm Mall’s offline-to-online operating model, combined with the strength of the Paytm ecosystem, is uniquely positioned to enable India’s 15 million offline retail shops to participate in India’s e-commerce boom."
Paytm Mall , the e - commerce business of Indian financial services firm Paytm , has been valued at almost $ 2bn after a $ 445 million investment from banks and Alibaba . Investing $ 400 m and $ 500 m , Softbank and Alibaba 's stakes in retail Mall increase to 53 % and 46 % respectively . retail Mall is looking to rival Flipkart and Amazon , using an easy - to - inline approach and its parent company 's payments ecosystem to target India 's 15 million offline retailers .