Paytm Acquires Hyperlocal Services Marketplace Near.in To Boost Presence In Online To Offline Space

Noida-based mobile payment and ecommerce platform, Paytm, has acquired hyperlocal services marketplace Near.in in a cash-and-stock deal in a bid to strengthen its presence in online to offline space.

The financial terms of the deal has been left undisclosed. But, according to people close to the transaction, the deal is estimated to be between $1.5 Mn – $2 Mn (INR 10 Cr.-INR 13 Cr.). Near.in is Paytm’s first acquisition since raising $680 Mn in funding from Alibaba Group and its affiliate Ant Financial.

Founded in 2014 by Wirkle co-founder, Sunil Goyal along with Lomesh Dutta and Akshay Khanna, Near.in, allow users to discover service providers in their vicinity. The startup covers over 100 categories including health, home needs and wellness, among others. It currently has over 2,200 service providers listed on its platform.

Earlier in January this year, the company had raised about $269K (INR 1.8 Cr.) from a group of investors including Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com, and Manish Vij of SVG Media. The startup competes with players like UrbanClap and Housejoy.

The entire Near.in team will join the Paytm team.

Speaking on the development, Kiran Vasireddy, senior VP & head of investments for Paytm stated, “online-to-offline (O2O) is a focus area for Paytm. Local commerce has massive potential in India, and this acquisition will help us grow the business even further. This is a new category for us. All the companies acquired by us till date, have had a strong presence in the O2O space. This business is still a blue ocean for us.”

Earlier, Paytm had acquired cross-messaging platform PlusTxt in 2013; and prior to that, it had acquired mobile marketing platform MobiVite.

Besides, Paytm had invested in online aggregator for auto rickshaw rides and a hyperlocal delivery platform Jugnoo, after having participated in a $5 Mn round, earlier this year in June. The company has recently invested $10 Mn in Mumbai-based logistics analytics firm, LogiNext, to bring greater efficiencies to its delivery vertical.

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