Paytm acquires deal discovery platforms Nearbuy and Little, merges both in single entity

Paytm has acquired deal platforms Nearbuy and Little together for an undisclosed amount. The payment major said that it had arranged a merger of both companies and picked up a majority stake in the combined entity, reports Mint.

Following the merger, Sequoia Capital capital (investor in Nearbuy) will continue to be a stakeholder in the merged entity. According to media reports, Paytm bought both companies in a distress sale.

The Noida-based company sees Little and Nearbuy as platforms that would help it accelerate its O2O vertical (mobile commerce and transaction).

Collectively, Nearbuy and Little secured over $80 million risk capital from top-tier investors including Paytm. The Vijay-Shekhar Sharma-led company is reportedly spent $30 million for the deal.

Besides Paytm, Singapore’s GIC, SAIF Partners, and Tiger Global are other investors in Little. It’s not known whether they will own equity in the merged entity or take an exit from the venture.

In 2015, Sequoia Capital and Nearbuy co-founders bought a major stake in Groupon. While Paytm, SAIF Partners and Tiger Global invested $50 million in Little.

Paytm's acquisitions and strategic investments this year

After raising $1.4 billion from Softbank, Paytm has been eyeing multiple acquisition and strategic investments. It acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-based online ticketing platform Insider.in in June, this year.

The company also invested an undisclosed amount in mobile loyalty and data analytics firm MobiQuest Mobile Technologies in July.

Paytm was also in talks to acquire travel booking site Via.com. Besides, it is also planning to participate in $200 million strategic investment round in grocery delivery major Bigbasket with Alibaba.

Over the past two years, deal discovery space is stagnant and both Little and Nearbuy have been struggling in driving transactions. The upside of deal platforms is limited as they aren’t growing.

However, these companies make sense to Paytm as it is eyeing representation in various verticals and wants to have a broader use case for its payment platform.