Forbes listed Vijay Shekhar Sharma's net worth at $1.1 billion in September 2022. That estimate came after Paytm's shares had fallen sharply from their November 2021 listing.
Sharma started indiasite.net in 1997 while in college and sold it two years later for $1 million. In 2000 he founded One97 Communications, which began with mobile content. Paytm started in August 2010 with $2 million from the founder.
Investors followed: Sapphire Ventures in 2011, Alibaba and Ant in 2015 and SoftBank at a valuation above $8 billion in 2017. Berkshire Hathaway invested $356 million in 2018 and a $1 billion round led by T. Rowe Price came in 2019.
Paytm listed in November 2021 in a Rs 18,300 crore IPO at about a $20 billion valuation, the largest in India at the time. It listed at Rs 1,950 and closed the day at Rs 1,560, down 27%. RBI restrictions on Paytm Payments Bank followed in 2022 and 2024.