Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, which runs Snapdeal, has issued preference shares of worth INR 1563 Cr to Freecharge Investors. Out of which, share of value INR 1290 Cr has been issued to Sequoia Capital, ru-Net, Valiant Capital and Aquila Investments, who have been the investors in FreeCharge. Whereas, preference share of rest amount i.e INR 273 Cr has been dispensed to FreeCharge co-founders Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon. On the other side, Sequoia Capital alone has received shares worth INR 700 Cr.
Sources close to the development said that besides the issue of preference shares, the deal also includes cash payouts as well.
The Snapdeal-FreeCharge deal, that happened last week, was in accordance to sell products and services to millions of users who use online mobile recharge service only to recharge their phones. Snapdeal plans to pull recharge customers into impulsive buying. Besides, FreeCharge’s acquisition, which has about 20 Mn users, has also provided Snapdeal with the largest user base.
Founded in 2010, by Kunal Shah, FreeCharge has raised more than $120 Mn from Sequoia Capital, ru-Net, Sofina Capital, Valiant Capital and Tyborne before getting acquired by Snapdeal for over $450 Mn.
Now, Snapdeal and FreeCharge together plans to generate more than one million daily transactions and have 40 Mn users on the mobile. Even though a majority of these transactions are low-value, money-losing recharge deals, and these will hit Snapdeal’s current average revenue per order, the sheer size of transactions may help the company attract higher valuations.
The online marketplace, Snapdeal that started in 2010 as a daily deals platform has now come a long way, it has raised over $1 Bn in last one year. Earlier this month, Snapdeal also roped in Amir Khan as their brand ambassador promoting its website in India. The company has recently acquired number of startups including Unicommerce, Exclusively, Smartprix, and also, picking 20% stake in Gojavas.
