Paytm ropes in Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan as bankers for upcoming IPO ⁠— there may be more along the way

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Paytm ropes in Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan as bankers for upcoming IPO ⁠— there may be more along the way
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  • The fintech startup is looking to file its DRHP with market regulator SEBI in July.
  • It plans to raise $3 billion through its IPO, making it the biggest public market debut in India.
  • Food delivery app Zomato and online auto classifieds CarTrade have also filed their documentation to go public this year.
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Digital payments giant Paytm has appointed Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as merchant bankers for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), a source aware of the development told Business Insider. The fintech startup is looking to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in July, and expects to make its debt in the public market by November 2021.

The company is also looking to appoint more merchant bankers and advisers such as Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc for the IPO. The company plans to raise ₹21,800 crore or $3 billion through this public offering, at a valuation of $25 billion to $30 billion. This could be the largest IPO in India, surpassing Coal India Ltd’s offering to raise ₹15,000 crore ($2 billion at current conversion rate) in 2010.

Paytm declined to comment when Business Insider reached out.

Paytm is currently valued at $16 billion, after raising $1 billion in November 2019 from T Rowe Price, Ant Group and Softbank Vision Fund. The round catapulted Paytm to the position of the most valued startup in India, and it was recently overtaken by BYJU’s that raised $350 million at a valuation of $16.5 billion. Overall, Paytm has raised close to $3.2 billion to date from investors like Berkshire Hathaway, Alibaba Group and more.

One97 Communications was founded in 2000 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who launched Paytm in 2010. Paytm is one of the biggest digital payments companies in India with offerings across several digital modes of payments like unified payments interface (UPI), credit and debit cards payments. It also offers wealth management solutions through Paytm Money and banking services through Paytm Payments Banks.

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Paytm is currently said to be in talks with BillDesk, PayU and publicly-listed Infibeam Avenues for a possible acquisition, merger or investments. While Paytm denied the report, a source told ET that the talks are still in the initial stages. Notably, Paytm too has a payment gateway, but the above-mentioned platforms have specialised businesses.

Besides this, the Noida-based company may also acquire about 7% stake in QR code-based payments business PayPay Japan. PayPay is a cashless payment service, which is run by a joint venture between SoftBank and Yahoo Japan. It has about 40 million users and facilitates 2 billion transactions annually. Paytm is a technology partner of the Japan-based fintech company.

Paytm had reported a marginal drop in its revenues in the financial year 2020, as its revenue dipped from ₹3,391 crore in FY19 to ₹3,350 crore. It also reduced its net loss by 28%, from ₹3,954 crore to ₹2,833 crore.

The Indian startup ecosystem is all set to witness some high profile IPOs this year. Food aggregator business Zomato and auto classifieds platform CarTrade have already filed their DRHPs, whereas insurtech platform PolicyBazaar, fashion and logistics unicorn Delhivery will be doing so soon. Earlier this year, Nazara Technologies and EaseMyTrip made their debut in the public market.


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