Digital wallet platform Paytm is in early talks to Acquire online deals startup Nearbuy to strengthen its hyperlocal play, according to two people familiar with the development.
The news of Paytm’s interest in Nearbuy was first brought to light by the anonymous Twitter handle Unicon Baba on the first of this month.
Paytm to acquire @nearbuy
— Unicon Baba (@uni_con1) September 1, 2017
Paytm’s possible acquisition of Little is in a fairly advanced stage with the Little board agreeing on the deal. It wants to retain the current management of Little but no clarity on this has emerged yet so far.
While Paytm is already on track to merge Little with itself, it is pursuing the acquisition of Nearbuy separately
Paytm is planning to acquire both Little and Nearbuy as it is planning to quickly ramp-up its business in deals through these platforms. Given its reach, Paytm aspires to become the top player in the deals space, said another person.
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“Economies of the scale is the reason why Paytm wants to buy both the firms,” the person told VCCircle.
Gurgaon based Nearbuy broke away from its NASDAQ-listed parent Groupon Inc. in 2015, and was looking for fresh equity. Groupon Inc. had sold some of its majority stake in Nearbuy to Sequoia India which spent $20 million for the acquisition as part of an organizational reshuffle. The firm was subsequently rebranded Nearbuy.
In 2016, the firm raised $2.2 million in debt from Blacksoil Capital.
But both Nearbuy and its rival Little struggled to expand.
Paytm, which launched its payments bank in May, raised a mammoth $1.4 billion in equity infusion from SoftBank Group Corp. in the same month.
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