Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led mobile wallet firm Paytm is in talks to invest up to $30 million (around Rs 193 crore) for a majority stake in Mumbai-based curated events platform Insider.in, according to a media report.
“Paytm is in discussions with Insider.in as it wants to take on rivals like BookMyShow’s events business,†a report in The Times of India quoted an unnamed person as saying.
“Paytm wants to get a pie of the events business, which is a natural extension given it is already present in the movie-ticketing space. The firm is interested in Insider.in for its youth-oriented base of users,†the report added, citing the person.
Insider.in is operated by OML (Only Much Louder) Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, which behind annual, multi-city music festival Bacardi NH7 Weekender and TV series The Dewarists. It is a curated lifestyle platform that gives users access to select events and products.
Insider.in was founded by Shreyas Srinivasan in August 2014. He joined OML in April 2010 and later launched the company's digital business. Previously, he co-founded internet radio station RadioVeRVe.
The Alibaba-backed Paytm is expected to get a majority stake in Insider.in and not in its parent company, the report said.
If the deal happens, Insider.in would be one of the largest investments made by Paytm.
Email queries sent to Paytm and Insider.in did not elicit any response till the time of filing this report.
Paytm—which typically invests $5-7 million in startups—recently invested an undisclosed amount in Noida-based health-tech startup QorQL.
In 2015, it led a $10-million funding round in autorickshaw service aggregator and hyperlocal delivery firm Jugnoo.
It has made acquisitions, too. In December 2015, it acquired Gurgaon-based services marketplace Near.in for $2 million.
In the following month, it bought Delhi-based consumer behaviour prediction platform Shifu for $8 million.
In September last year, the firm acqui-hired e-learning marketplace EduKart for an undisclosed amount and, in November, it acquired O2O shopping startup Shopsity.
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