Equity Management Platform Qapita Secures a Partnership With Citi to Accelerate Development of Its Private Market Trading Platform

From L to R - Vamsee Mohan, Ravi Ravulaparthi, Lakshman Gupta

• Citi makes a strategic investment, joining the Series A round led by East Ventures (Growth Fund) and Vulcan Capital announced a few weeks earlier
• This non-exclusive partnership with Citi will help the company accelerate its platform for private stock
• The Company aims to secure other similar partnerships with other institutions to accelerate the development of its platform in SE Asia and India

Singapore-based Qapita, which earlier announced its Series A round of USD 15 million co-led by East Ventures (Growth Fund) and Vulcan Capital added that it has secured a partnership with Citi. Citi has joined the Series A round, which will help the company accelerate its platform which includes the private company marketplace. Qapita plans to facilitate liquidity solutions via a digital marketplace enabling transactions for companies between investors and employee stakeholders.

Qapita expects the value of private securities in this region to exceed USD 1.0-1.5 trillion (with 200-250 unicorns) in the next few years and that scalable digital solutions will be critical for such an ecosystem to thrive. Qapita’s equity management software solves pain points relating to HR (ESOP), finance and fundraising for private companies, investors, shareholders and employees. Its marketplace will enable secondary transactions for these stakeholders. Qapita estimates that more than USD 150 billion of equity will need liquidity solutions.

This partnership will serve the growing market for private company secondary liquidity. Qapita has already built a CapTable and ESOP management platform and intends to launch a private company marketplace to offer one unified platform to its clients that will:

• Record, manage and report all aspects of equity ownership - ESOPs and CapTables
• Allow for custom, issuer friendly liquidity programs to be setup and run
• Build standardized and scalable rails for private market transactions
• Allowing transparency, accessibility and efficiency to investors seeking exposure to this asset class

Announcing the same, Ravi Ravulaparthi, CEO and Cofounder of Qapita, said, “Our quest is to build a unified platform that addresses all matters relating to equity for a private company. The private market in this part of the world is set to be US$1.0 - 1.5 trillion in value. This market needs an operating system and transaction rails to make it transparent, accessible and efficient. This partnership with Citi will help us accelerate this mission. We look forward to more such partnerships with ecosystem players.”

Deepak Mehra, Citi’s Asia Head of Strategic FinTech Investments & Digital Solutions, added, "This partnership highlights our focus on market structure innovation in the rapidly scaling private markets across the region. Qapita has a clear vision and an impressive team, and we are pleased to help accelerate their creation of a platform to foster liquidity in the market. The partnership also marks our continued commitment to invest in private markets globally in addition to FinTech and innovation across South-East Asia and India."

Amazon’s India Business To Valued At $16 Bn, To Reach $70 Bn in GMV By 2027

Within a few weeks after Walmart announced acquiring an initial stake of about 77 percent in Flipkart, India's top e-commerce company, for $16 billion, US-based technology giant Amazon’s India business could be valued at $16 billion right now and is expected to reach $70 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) and $11 billion in net sales by 2027, according to a report by Citi Research released last week.

"We believe the India e-commerce market will grow at a 21% CAGR over the next 10 years to $202bn, that Amazon could capture 35% of this market. ... That suggests that Amazon India could be currently worth $16bn," Citi’s senior analyst Mark May said in a note to clients Thursday. "In short, not only do we believe that investors continue to under-estimate the value of Amazon's existing Emerging International Retail Markets businesses, but also the pace and value of its recent international expansion efforts."

A valuation of $16 billion makes the business worth more than 170 companies in the S&P 500, including Clorox, Macy's and Tiffany & Co.

Notably, Amazon has committed to spending $5 billion to build its business in India, whose population of 1.3 billion makes it the world's second-largest country.

Amazon's investments in India have been consistent with a strategy for long-term success. For instance, the company has aggressively built out its distribution network to service the third-party sellers and customers it serves in the market.

Speaking about Indian ecommerce market, it is currently pegged at $30 billion and is expected to be worth $200 billion by calendar year 2026, according to a report by investment bank Morgan Stanley.

It is also to be noted that this valuation of Amazon's India business is not based on a transaction like the Flipkart-Walmart deal, it would probably make Amazon India the second-most valued internet business in the country after it’s rival Flipkart.

Amazon’s main India unit Amazon Seller Services posted a 41% rise in FY'17 revenue to Rs 3,128 crore, according to filings before the Registrar of Companies. Amazon Internet Services, the re-seller for cloud business under Amazon Web Services (AWS) in India, saw its revenues grow to $406 million (about Rs 2,636 crore) in December 2017 from $307 million (about Rs 1,993 crore) a year earlier, according to the regulatory filing.

Flipkart, including its subsidiaries -- Myntra and Jabong, had a combined market share of 39.1%, and Amazon India 31.1%, according to Forrester Research. Alibaba and SoftBank-backed Paytm Mall had a market share of about 5.6% in 2017, it’s first full year of operations.

Recently, it was also reported that the e-commerce arm of India’s payment giant PayTM — PayTM Mall, is expected to raise $600 million from Japan’s Softbank.

Meanwhile, social networking giant Facebook has also announced that it is on verge of launching its own e-commerce platform, and is currently in talks with several brands and businesses in India to list on Facebook Marketplace. It will begin testing business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions on the marketplace this month ahead of a soft launch planned for June.

Via - Economic Times

Amazon’s India Business To Valued At $16 Bn, To Reach $70 Bn in GMV By 2027

Within a few weeks after Walmart announced acquiring an initial stake of about 77 percent in Flipkart, India's top e-commerce company, for $16 billion, US-based technology giant Amazon’s India business could be valued at $16 billion right now and is expected to reach $70 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) and $11 billion in net sales by 2027, according to a report by Citi Research released last week.

"We believe the India e-commerce market will grow at a 21% CAGR over the next 10 years to $202bn, that Amazon could capture 35% of this market. ... That suggests that Amazon India could be currently worth $16bn," Citi’s senior analyst Mark May said in a note to clients Thursday. "In short, not only do we believe that investors continue to under-estimate the value of Amazon's existing Emerging International Retail Markets businesses, but also the pace and value of its recent international expansion efforts."

A valuation of $16 billion makes the business worth more than 170 companies in the S&P 500, including Clorox, Macy's and Tiffany & Co.

Notably, Amazon has committed to spending $5 billion to build its business in India, whose population of 1.3 billion makes it the world's second-largest country.

Amazon's investments in India have been consistent with a strategy for long-term success. For instance, the company has aggressively built out its distribution network to service the third-party sellers and customers it serves in the market.

Speaking about Indian ecommerce market, it is currently pegged at $30 billion and is expected to be worth $200 billion by calendar year 2026, according to a report by investment bank Morgan Stanley.

It is also to be noted that this valuation of Amazon's India business is not based on a transaction like the Flipkart-Walmart deal, it would probably make Amazon India the second-most valued internet business in the country after it’s rival Flipkart.

Amazon’s main India unit Amazon Seller Services posted a 41% rise in FY'17 revenue to Rs 3,128 crore, according to filings before the Registrar of Companies. Amazon Internet Services, the re-seller for cloud business under Amazon Web Services (AWS) in India, saw its revenues grow to $406 million (about Rs 2,636 crore) in December 2017 from $307 million (about Rs 1,993 crore) a year earlier, according to the regulatory filing.

Flipkart, including its subsidiaries -- Myntra and Jabong, had a combined market share of 39.1%, and Amazon India 31.1%, according to Forrester Research. Alibaba and SoftBank-backed Paytm Mall had a market share of about 5.6% in 2017, it’s first full year of operations.

Recently, it was also reported that the e-commerce arm of India’s payment giant PayTM — PayTM Mall, is expected to raise $600 million from Japan’s Softbank.

Meanwhile, social networking giant Facebook has also announced that it is on verge of launching its own e-commerce platform, and is currently in talks with several brands and businesses in India to list on Facebook Marketplace. It will begin testing business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions on the marketplace this month ahead of a soft launch planned for June.

Via - Economic Times

Paytm Appoints Two Citi Executives for Its Payments Bank Vertical

Further consolidating its position as an industry leader, Paytm, a mobile payments and commerce platform, has announced the appointment of Ruchita Taneja Aggarwal as its lead of banking operations and Priya Karnik will be working on products for Bank. Both Ruchita and Priya were previously associated with Citi in leadership roles; while Ruchita was Director – Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) and Singapore Head - Regional Product Sales, Priya's last role with Citi was - Director – Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) - Regional Implementation.

Speaking on their appointments, Amit Sinha, Vice President – Paytm, said, “We, at Paytm, are committed to keep enhancing our services and product portfolio by bringing more experience and talent into our team. We are confident that with them on board, we will be able to drive greater growth and success for the organization.”

Ruchita said, “Paytm is one of the most renowned Indian companies today, and joining the team is a source of immense pride and delight for me. I will be looking forward to work with this extremely talented bunch of professionals and play my role in the company’s continued success.”

Holding an MBA from S.P.Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai, Ruchita brings almost 14 years of experience in the field of payments and finance. She has been integrally involved in execution, ideation and planning of new business strategies at Citi Transaction Banking as a part of her job responsibilities, and has led sales of complex, multi-country working capital solutions to corporates in India and Singapore.

Priya added, “It is no secret that Paytm is expanding and diversifying at an exponential rate. Joining the organization gives me an unparalleled opportunity to work with some of the most well-known industry thought leaders who are trying to build something new and unique. I am very excited to be a part of Paytm, and am eagerly looking forward to growing in tandem, both professional and personally, with the organisation.”

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Priya holds almost 13 years of experience in Payments and Cash Management with diverse stints across product management, sales and operations.  Having worked in global headquarters (New York), regional (Asia-Pacific) and in-country (India) roles over her career, she brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of global payments to Paytm.

Paytm’s latest recruitment follows the recent appointment of Vipin Surelia as the Vice President – Risk and Compliance at the company.

With current user base of more than 120 million, Paytm is on mission to bring half a billion Indians to main stream of economy using mobile payment, commerce and soon to be launched payment banking services. The company’s investors include Ant Financials (AliPay), Alibaba Group, SAIF Partners, Sapphire Venture and Silicon Valley Bank.

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