Indian digital payments startup Paytm has raised $1 billion in new funding as it heads toward a likely initial public offering within two to three years.

The Series G round, announced Monday in India, was led by T. Rowe Price and backed by existing investors Ant Financial, SoftBank Vision Fund and Discovery Capital. It was raised on a valuation of about $16 billion, making the company one of the most valuable startups in Asia.

Founded in 2010, Paytm is India’s largest mobile payments and commerce platform, offering a wide range of services, including online mobile recharging, bill payments, online bookings and an Amazon.com Inc.-like e-commerce store.

The company had 220 million registered users, just under half of all internet users in India, when it last raised funding in 2017. It’s now believed to have about 350 million, with the company expecting to hit 12 billion transactions by end of its next fiscal year.

In an interview, Paytm founder and Chief Executive Officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma said the new funding would be used to partner with more online and offline merchants as well as making an aggressive push into financial services. “Lending, insurance and new-age banking will be the focus for us,” Sharma said. “We are in the final process of applying for a general insurance license.”

The company is not without competitors in a country that some dub the next China, complete with a rapidly growing middle class. Amazon has a strong e-commerce presence in the country alongside Wal-Mart Stores Inc. through the retail giant’s ownership of Flipkart. Google LLC and Facebook Inc. are also players, though on a smaller scale.

As of October, Paytm said it was looking to go public in 2022 but only after it becomes profitable. Like its startup counterparts in the west, Paytm bleeds money, reporting a loss of $588 million in the 12 months ended in March of this year.

Including the new round, Paytm has raised about $4.6 billion to date. The inclusion of Ant Financial among its investors is notable because it runs Alipay and is an affiliate group of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Alipay is the market leader in China with a 53% market share. Leveraging that experience, it’s expanding into Europe and its expertise can only help Paytm.

Image: Paytm