Paytm can grow its value going forward, says Softbank's Masayoshi Son

While Paytm is seeking a valuation of around $20 bn, it is much lower than the rumoured expectation of $25-30 bn

Even as India’s leading fintech player Paytm’s IPO is off to a slow start, one of its largest investors, Japan’s Softbank, believes that the company can grow its value going forward.

Softbank chief Masayoshi Son when asked by an analyst, post its Q2 results, if Paytm’s valuation of $20 billion was lower than the firm's expectation, said, “Valuation-wise, of course, it depends on market condition and investors' appetite. And I believe that they can grow their value going forward.”

While Paytm is seeking a valuation of around $20 billion, it is much lower than the rumoured expectation of $25-30 billion.

Son added that the Paytm IPO should be a great event for Softbank. “I believe Paytm should grow significantly. I believe that valuation should be bigger than the cost that we spend when we make an investment. So for us, the IPO should be a great event.”

Son also said that monetisation, by either the IPO route or exit through its Vision Fund 2, has almost doubled. In the first six months of this year the company has seen 18 such events.

In India too, Softbank has seen several of its investments such as Policybazaar, Paytm, Delhivery and others, taking the IPO route.

“Not only Paytm, there are other businesses too from which we have high-expectations. So for the year-end and early next year, I'm looking forward to those possibilities. The number of IPOs has been growing. And some make a big hit,” he told analysts.

SoftBank reported a $3.5 billion (397 billion yen) loss for the July-September quarter, a harsh turn from a 628 billion yen profit a year ago in the same period, led by falling valuations in its technology portfolio.

When asked about the recent crackdown by the Chinese government on certain sectors in China, Son said that he is concerned about what’s happening in China, but then Softbank is investing in companies that are into AI. “AI revolution, AI technology related companies are coming up in China. And I hope that and I believe that those companies will grow. In that sense, we will continue to invest in those potential AI related companies in China. I hope that they're going to grow even further in China.”

He also said that even though Softbank continues to invest in China, in terms of companies invested by Vision Fund it is only 20%. “So from that perspective, I don't think that China's risk is so huge. I think it's a manageable level. And again, ticket size is small and we make sure that the company that we invest in is something very healthy and manageable,” he added.