JOIN USPaytmLabs sets out on strong hiring strategy
PaytmLabs, Toronto-based research arm of the fastest growing mobile-first marketplace and payments ecosystem Paytm, is all set to ramp up its staff strength to place more leverage on the data analytics and security segment of the company.
In an interaction with Deccan Herald, Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that PaytmLabs at Toronto will help the company plug its security loopholes and ramp up revenues. “We have been expanding exponentially as a platform, and security is a big concern. Also, we are looking at various revenue streams in advertising and analytics,” said Sharma.
Sharma said the company believes in the importance of technology which can transform lives. “Our success is bringing together people who are making that happen. Paytm has been able to deliver on this front, as we give thrust to innovation. PaytmLabs helps us in fraud detection and in finding new revenue streams in the area of advertising and merchant analytics,” he said.
The Lab has already hired 50 people from around the globe, including Asia, the US and Europe. “PaytmLabs further plans to ramp up its strength to an additional 100 staff, this year. Majority of this staff will be in the area of analytics,” he said.
Harinder Takhar, a former Blackberry engineer who heads PaytmLabs, said that Toronto gives the company opportunity to hire more data scientists. PaytmLabs would like to hire data scientists from internet companies, analytics firms, nuclear science establishments and other startup companies where engineers with innovative ideas work.
Paytm is the world’s fastest growing mobile-first marketplace and payment ecosystem that serves over 100 million people, who make over 1.5 million business transactions, representing $1.7 billion worth of goods and services exchanged annually. “We are a data company in the business of human fulfillment. PaytmLabs is the signal processing engine for our mothership, Paytm, handling recommender systems to advanced machine learning and distributed computing platforms,” said the Paytm CEO.
Acquisition plans
The Noida-headquartered Paytm acquired Delhi-based consumer behaviour prediction platform Shifu in an $8-million (Rs 53-crore) deal. Shifu is expected to enhance consumer experiences on the Paytm platform.
For Paytm, the acquisition is in line with its plan to invest about $150 million in emerging companies to build a complete digital ecosystem.
Last month, it acquired online local services marketplace Near.in for close to $2 million. Prior to that, it invested in Jugnoo, a hyper-local transportation app; in Little, a discovery platform for lifestyle consumers and a significant sales channel for merchants; and in LogiNext, a logistics startup.
Paytm, owned by One97 Communication, has received its largest investment of $680 million from China’s Alibaba Group. Backed by its 120 million mobile wallet users and a warchest of $400 million for expanding its online marketplace business, the company plans to make a deep impact on the growing eCommerce business in India.