China’s biggest internet search company, Baidu, is planning to make its first investment in India by buying majority stake in coupon and discount startup Mydala.
According to reports, Baidu is interested in acquiring a majority interest in Mydala.com for an amount of $100 Mn (about INR 664 Cr).
However, in a conversation with Inc42, Baidu stated, that there is no such development as of now.
Joining other chinese compatriots like Alibaba and Tencent, Baidu is planning to make its way into India in order to expand its global portfolio.
As per sources, Kinobeo Software, owner and operator of Mydala, is seeking a valuation of $150-200 Mn. Besides, the sources also revealed that Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad is also seeking a majority stake in Mydala.
Launched in 2009 by Anisha Singh, Arjun Basu and Ashish Bhatnagar, New Delhi-based Mydala provides deals and offers on restaurants, grocery, entertainment, travel, body-art, spas & salons, gyms and other categories.
According to company’s website, it has more than 1 lakh merchants and 200 Mn monthly user reach.
Earlier in September, Mydala was in talks with investors to raise up to $80 Mn. Prior to this, the company had raised around $2 Mn in bridge funding round from a clutch of individuals and a boutique investment banking firm, last year. Its existing investor, Info Edge owns significant minority stake in the company. Currently, more than 45% stake in Mydala is owned by Info Edge while the remaining share is owned by the founders, early employees, etc.
Baidu had shared its plans to invest in India and Indonesia, this September. According to company’s CFO, both these countries “have a lot of characteristics that mimic China’s development”, reported Bloomberg.
Earlier in January, it also opened its office in India which is located in Gurgaon, and launched four mobile products in the country. The chinese search giant claimed that it has 45 Mn aggregate monthly active users in India.
Apart from Baidu, Alibaba’s Ant Financial Services has invested heavily in mobile commerce platform, Paytm, while Tencent led $90 Mn funding round of Practo and Malaysia’s Khazanah participated in a $37 Mn funding round of Zivame.
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