Online managed marketplace, ShopClues, is reportedly in talks to buy mobile payments startup Momoe Technologies.
The people close to the development said that it will be an all-stock deal that will be announced in around 45 days. It could value anywhere between $8 Mn to $15 Mn.
Bangalore-based mobile payment app Momoe enables people to make payments to brick-and-mortar (offline) merchants using their mobile phones.
If ShopClues aligns with Momoe, it will use its technology to strengthen its payment network for merchants on its platform. It will further integrate Momoe’s technology with its hyperlocal commerce business that it started in August 2015. Unlike Paytm and Mobikwik, which facilitate cashless payments with a virtual wallet, Momoe’s app works by linking credit cards, debit cards, and net banking. It has tied up with more than 3,000 brick-and-mortar merchants in Bangalore and Pune.
Last month, the Gurgaon-based ecommerce marketplace, ShopClues, had announced its plans to buy payments, analytics and ad-tech companies in order to strengthen its seller network and take over its rivals. It had set aside $30-$40 Mn (INR 200-275 Cr) to spend on acquisitions.
Lately, ecommerce firms are eyeing the payments companies for acquisition or partnerships in order to reduce the dependency on cash and make online shopping more convenient.
Earlier this week, Amazon announced its plans to own digital wallet services. Last month, it bought Noida-based online payment solutions provider, EMVANTAGE Payments Pvt Ltd, for an undisclosed amount. Flipkart too re-entered the payments space with the launch of its mobile wallet Flipkart Money.
Ecommerce companies in India are currently focusing on four identified pillars of its business – ecommerce, logistics, payments and advertising.
In January this year, ShopClues managed to raise close to $100 Mn funding, led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, and has a valuation of $1.1 Bn. The company is is targeting gross merchandise sales of $3 Bn by the end of fiscal 2016-17.
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