Where does BlackRock see value in India’s biggest IPO?

What exactly do the likes of BlackRock Inc. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board see in the unprofitable Indian payments startup heading for the country’s biggest-ever initial public offering? A simple answer: the raw power of data.

Paytm, formally known as One97 Communications Ltd., has signed up BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, and CPPIB together with the sovereign wealth funds of Singapore and Abu Dhabi as anchor investors for next week’s 183 billion rupee ($2.46 billion) IPO. The $1.1 billion sale to cornerstone investors saw more than 10 times as much demand as shares on offer, according to Bloomberg News.