Silicon Valley Bank not a stakeholder in Paytm, clarifies Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Sharma’s tweet comes hours after SVB, which traded Silicon Valley BankIt collapsed on Friday in the biggest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis, roiling global markets and stranding billions of dollars belonging to companies and investors.

Regulators stepped in and seized it in a surprising drop for a lender that had quadrupled in size over the past five years.

“Silicon Valley Bank was one of my first investors when @AshLilani backed us in our first round of investment in One97. Thanks to him, we have grown from a telco VAS company to what we are today,” Sharma wrote on Twitter.

“Before long, by selling to other private investors, SVB made a complete exit with a handsome return on its total investment of $1.7Mn. They are neither current shareholders nor have invested the amounts given herein,” the Paytm CEO said while clarifying his stand on the investment made by SVB in the digital financial services firm.

Current Stakeholders of Paytm

Currently, Paytm is backed by China’s Ant Group and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. Ant has about 25% To bet In Paytm, while SoftBank holds around 13%, according to exchange data.

Ant and SoftBank are reportedly seeking to sell their stake in Paytm in the open market.

The companies had previously approached Bharti Airtel founder-chairman Sunil Mittal to sell his stake in Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications, but those talks did not make much progress.

China’s Alibaba Group exited Paytm in early February by selling its remaining stake in the company. 1,378 crores. SoftBank had earlier also sold 4.5% stake in Paytm through a block deal for around $200 million.

Paytm has been under pressure to turn profitable since its disappointing listing at the end of 2021. The stock has fallen nearly 70 percent below its IPO price. 2,150 as high valuations of loss-making tech firms come under scrutiny amid volatility in financial markets.