Snapdeal is sharpening focus on FreeCharge to pit it against Paytm

In a bid to stand close to its rivals such as Paytm, Snapdeal is looking to raise money for its digital payment platform FreeCharge and is in talks with many investors including Chinese firms.

Jasper Infotech, which handles Snapdeal, wants to create a system similar to Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce behemoth.

"We are getting a lot of interest from sovereign funds and some Chinese investors. Chinese investors have seen the Alipay story. They have seen that Alipay has been successful because it is attached to a large commerce platform," Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl told ET.

As per reports, Snapdeal is looking to raise about $300 million, or Rs 2,000 crore for FreeCharge, which had an evaluation of around $400 million in cash and stock in April 2015.

"I have told investors, 'If you want to come into our crown jewel, it is going to be at a price'. If you are not willing to pay that price today, no problem. Let's wait for three to six months and let (Free-Charge) continue to execute. Till then, we will finance it,” Bahl told ET.

Meanwhile, Paytm, which is backed by Alibaba and valued at $3.4 billion as of September, is much higher than the 30-31 million transactions FreeCharge handles every month.

"FreeCharge is not a three-year journey. It's a commitment of a lifetime for us that we have made to the company and to the business. If we are running Snapdeal for 25 years, we have to run FreeCharge for 25 years also, and hence we want high-quality strategic investors for them as well," Bahl said.

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