Discoveryand deals platforms Nearbuy and Little Internet have merged, and financial services platform Paytm has taken a majority stake in this combined entity, the company announced on Wednesday. The merged entity, is expected to be valued at about $100 million with a fresh capital infusion of $25 million by Paytm, according to a source briefed on the matter.
Nearbuy-Little combined is expected to be spearheaded by Nearbuy’s chief executive Ankur Warikoo, said the person cited above.
While the two brands will continue to exist independently, Little Internet founders Manish Chopra and Satish Mani would be moving on. Sequoia Capital, along with other investors of Nearbuy will continue to be shareholders of the merged entity.
“In the local commerce space, Little Internet and Nearbuy combined will own 88% of the market share,” said Warikoo, Nearbuy’s CEO without commenting on specifics of the transaction. “There are around half-a-million merchants in the organised retail space, which we would like to bring on our platform.”
This merger brings the total merchants’ count to over 40,000, as the companies look to expand that number to 100,000 by 2018-end. Customers would be able to access Nearbuy and Little Internet deals from the Paytm app as well once it’s integrated on the platform in the next month or two, added Warikoo.
This transaction comes as Paytm looks to boost its position in the offline space allowing its merchants to have the option of acquiring more customers by offering deals and discounts. In July, the payments company acquired a majority stake in online ticketing and events platform Insider.in, thereby allowing Paytm customers to access events listed on Insider.
“Paytm’s goal is to provide its base of over five million merchants, tools to expand their business and to offer its customers the opportunity to buy all categories of digital and physical goods,” said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO, Paytm. Nearbuy (formerly Groupon India) parted from its parent Groupon in 2015. It was later rebranded as Nearbuy when Sequoia Capital pumped in $20 million.
URL Link-https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e-tailing/nearbuy-and-little-internet-merge-paytm-gets-majority-stake/61956672
Post your comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.