Paytm Pockets Hyperlocal Fashion Platform Shopsity; Looks To Create Seller Focussed Services For Offline Merchants

Ecommerce and payments platform Paytm has acquired app-based, hyperlocal, fashion commerce startup Shopsity.

Post the acquisition, Shopsity co-founders Danish Ahmed and Gaurav Arya will join Paytm’s management and will work towards strengthening Paytm’s offline seller network. As per an official statement, the move on Paytm’s part comes in line with its vision to create seller-focussed services for offline merchants.

Madhur Deora, Chief Financial Officer, Paytm said, “Shopsity has done a great job at providing innovative solutions to small offline retailers. By integrating their technology with our advanced seller services, we will be able to offer additional solutions to our fast-growing family of small offline merchants. I am confident this acquisition will offer further momentum to our online-to-offline commerce segment.”

Founded in 2015 by Danish Ahmed and Gaurav Arya, Shopsity is a hyperlocal commerce startup that connects small retailers with customers. It combines the convenience of online with the offline shopping by enabling the users to select the designs, latest offers and size, available in nearest stores, online.

Commenting on the announcement, Danish Ahmed, co-founder, Shopsity said, “Paytm is doing phenomenal stuff in the offline commerce space, and we are very excited to join the team and build a platform that enables small retailers to ride the digital wave. Millions of retailers are using Paytm to accept payments today, and we’re working hard to bring an entire suite of digital services to them.”

The startup earlier secured an undisclosed amount in Seed funding from Shopclues founder, Sandeep Aggarwal, and Netprice founder, Teruhide Sato.

Backed by Alibaba, Ant Financial, SAIF Partners, and others, Noida-based Paytm was founded in 2010 as a digital payments platform, which then expanded to the ecommerce sector. It currently claims to have a user base of 140 Mn and is expected to launch its Payments bank by the end of this year.

After securing a $60 Mn investment from Mediatek in August, Paytm announced plans to invest $120 Mn- $149Mn (INR 800 Cr – 1000 Cr) to develop its ecommerce arm, Paytm E-commerce Pvt. Ltd, in September 2016.

In the wake of the Indian Government’s demonetisation drive, Inc42 reported yesterday that Paytm’s platform saw an overwhelming 435% increase in overall traffic on its platform.

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