Alibaba and Ant bought out at a reported ~$13M (May 2022); pivoted to ONDC and renamed PAI Platforms (2024), then Ultraviolet Tech per MCA records (2026)
The rise & fall
9 moments · 2017–2024
The key moments.
Feb 2017
🌱
Feb 2017
Paytm Mall launches, Tmall-style, inside the Paytm app
Paytm E-commerce Pvt Ltd, incorporated Aug 16, 2016 to take over One97's marketplace, unveiled Paytm Mall in late Feb 2017 as an online-to-offline storefront for brand stores and kirana shops; a standalone app followed in April.
TechCrunch
Mar 2017
Mar 2017
Alibaba and SAIF put in $200M
RoC filings showed Alibaba paying $177M for a 36.31% stake and SAIF Partners $23M for 4.66%, making Alibaba the largest shareholder of the newly spun-out entity; Bloomberg's pre-deal report had cited a $1.1B valuation.
SCMP
Apr 2018
🦄
Apr 2018
Unicorn: SoftBank leads a $445M round at ~$1.9B$1.9B
SoftBank ($400M) and Alibaba ($45M) invested Rs 2,900 crore in four tranches, the last in June 2018; ET's reading of the MCA filings valued Paytm Mall near Rs 12,300 crore (~$1.9B). It claimed a $3B GMV run-rate and targeted $10B.
Economic Times
Jan 2019
Jan 2019
Cashbacks cut, GMV shrinks, the COO leaves
Sharma said 2018 GMV fell to about $800M from $1B as market share slipped to ~3%; ET reported a sales slump once cashbacks went. COO Amit Sinha left in Feb 2019, and an EY forensic audit found ~Rs 10 crore of cashback abuse by junior staff and sellers.
Inc42
Jul 2019
📈
Jul 2019
The peak: $3B, as eBay buys 5.6%$3B
eBay paid $160M for a 5.59% stake (1,28,028 shares at $1,249.73), a deal TechCrunch's source put at a $3B valuation and the filed valuation report at $2.86B post-money; total funding reached about $805M across three rounds.
TechCrunch
Jun 2020
Jun 2020
Retreat: FY20 revenue down 27%, HQ moved to Bengaluru
FY20 loss narrowed 60% to Rs 479 crore as revenue fell 27% to Rs 703 crore after cashbacks and categories were cut; executive director Rudra Dalmia left in Feb 2020, Abhishek Rajan became COO and the base moved from Noida to Bengaluru.
Business Standard
Dec 2021
Dec 2021
Off the unicorn list; eBay writes its stake to zero
Hurun's Global Unicorn Index 2021 dropped Paytm Mall below $1B after listing it at $3B in 2020; eBay's 10-K recorded a $160M impairment in Q4 2021, leaving no remaining carrying value for its 5.6% stake.
eBay 10-K
May 2022
📉
May 2022
Alibaba and Ant bought out at ~$13M — joins the Unitard Club 💔$13M
Paytm E-commerce cancelled Alibaba's 28.34% and Antfin's 14.98% via a capital reduction at Rs 459 a share, Rs 42 crore in all — about Rs 100 crore ($13M) for the whole company, 99.5% below 2019. The company said the price 'is not reflective of the valuation'.
Inc42
Feb 2024
Feb 2024
Renamed PAI Platforms; buys ONDC seller app Bitsila
Having pivoted to the government's ONDC network in May 2022 (live in Bengaluru's beta by Sept 2022), Paytm E-commerce became PAI Platforms on Feb 8, 2024 and bought Innobits (Bitsila); One97 holds no shares. MCA records now list it as Ultraviolet Tech.
Business Standard
How it happened
Paytm Mall was Vijay Shekhar Sharma's Tmall-style answer to Flipkart and Amazon: a Noida marketplace spun out of One97 as Paytm E-commerce Pvt Ltd in August 2016 and launched inside the Paytm app in February 2017 as an online-to-offline bridge for brand stores and kirana shops.
Alibaba and SAIF put in $200M at launch; a SoftBank-led $445M round in April 2018 valued it at about $1.9B on the Economic Times' reading of the filings; and eBay's $160M for a 5.6% stake in July 2019 took it to a reported $3B.
Cashback-driven GMV never closed the gap, and FY19 losses reached ₹1,171 crore. eBay wrote its stake to zero in late 2021, Hurun dropped it from the unicorn index that December, and in May 2022 the company bought out Alibaba and Ant's 43% for ₹42 crore at ₹459 a share, which Inc42 and Mint read as roughly ₹100 crore ($13M) for the company, a 99.5% drop; the company said the capital-reduction price does not reflect its value.
It rebuilt on the government's ONDC network, became PAI Platforms in February 2024 after buying seller platform Bitsila, and sits in MCA records as Ultraviolet Tech, with FY25 revenue near ₹109 crore.
Source: Economic Times (Apr 2018): SoftBank $400M + Alibaba $45M, ~$1.9B per RoC filings; TechCrunch/PTI (Jul 2019): eBay $160M for 5.59% at a reported $3B ($2.86B post-money per the filed valuation report); eBay 10-K FY2021: $160M impairment in Q4 2021, no remaining carrying value; Business Insider/Outlook (Dec 23, 2021): Hurun dropped it below $1B after listing it at $3B in 2020; Inc42 and Business Standard citing Mint (May 17, 2022): Alibaba 28.34% + Antfin 14.98% cancelled at Rs 459/share for Rs 42 crore, about Rs 100 crore/$13M for the company, a 99.5% drop; company said the exit price is not reflective of its valuation; Business Standard/PTI (Feb 9, 2024): renamed PAI Platforms, bought Bitsila; MCA records via Tofler/InstaFinancials (2026): now Ultraviolet Tech Pvt Ltd; PTI/Entrackr: ~$805M raised across three rounds
Founders & leadership
Vijay Shekhar Sharma
founder (via One97; no standalone CEO was ever named)
