The Poster boy of Indian Fintech: Startup Lessons from Paytm (Indian Unicorns)

Rising from the economic hardships of a small-town upbringing to running one of the most dynamic and burgeoning young organizations in the country – Vijay Shekhar Sharma was destined to be an entrepreneur. He finished secondary school at the age of thirteen, entered engineering studies at fifteen, taught himself the English language by simultaneously reading the same book in Hindi and English script, and taught himself to code merely through inspiration and perseverance. Both a prodigy and a self-starter, he completely revolutionized the mobile wallet and disrupted the commerce ecosystem with his brainchild Paytm, an acronym for 'Pay Through Mobile'. Based out of Noida in Delhi NCR, Paytm is one of India's leading financial services companies, including full-stack payments & financial solutions to consumers, offline merchants, and online platforms. It has many offerings ranging from digital payments like UPI, credit and debit cards, wealth management to Paytm Money, banking services through Paytm Payments Bank and even online video gaming. It counts the Alibaba Group of China, the SoftBank Group of Japan and venture capital firm Elevation Capital, formerly known as SAIF Partners, among its major investors. The organization facilitated almost a billion digital transactions in March 2021. In FY20, Paytm's consolidated revenue was flat at INR 3,280 crores, while it cut losses by thirty per cent to INR 2,942 crores, according to its audited annual reports. Paytm is currently valued at sixteen billion USD. This book is an attempt to go through the journey of Paytm and share the startup lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.