Paytm in funding talks with Microsoft to build war chest

Bengaluru | Mumbai: Digital payments firm Paytm has held talks with US technology giant, Microsoft for fresh funding as the company looks to boost its war chest to fight growing competition in the sector, two people in the know said.

The proposed fund raise, which may amount to around $100 million (Rs 760 crore), is likely to be an extension of a planned $1-billion (Rs 7,600 crore) fundraising that the company had initiated last year, people briefed on the matter told ET.

In November 2019, US-based asset manager T.Rowe Price had come in as a new investor, ploughing $150 million (Rs 1,140 crore) into Paytm, valuing the company at $16 billion. The entire sum from this round is yet to come in, as per regulatory filings by the Noida-based firm.