Paytm has acquired discovery and deals platforms Nearbuy and Little on Wednesday.
Paytm said in a statement that it made a “strategic” investment in the two companies.
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.
Nearbuy, which was founded as SoSasta, was acquired by NASDAQ-listed Groupon Inc. in 2011.
The company was later renamed as Groupon India, in 2013.
In 2015, Sequoia Capital India and the current chief executive officer (CEO) Ankur Warikoo bought a majority stake from the US-based parent of the firm and named it Nearbuy.
“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 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.
