Paytm acquires deals platforms Nearbuy and Little, to merge both

NEWDELHI: Paytm on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Nearbuy and Little, deals platforms focusing on local restaurants and commercial establishments. Paytm said it arranged a merger of the well-funded startups and made a “strategic” investment in the resultant entity for a majority stake.

Sequoia Capital India, a large investor in Nearbuy (formerly Groupon India), continues to be a shareholder in the merged entity. Paytm did not say whether Sequoia sold a part of its investment in Nearbuy to Paytm.

Mint was the first to report the potential deal in September.

Nearbuy, which was founded as SoSasta, was acquired by NASDAQ-listed Groupon Inc. in 2011. It was renamed Groupon India in 2013. In 2015, Sequoia Capital India and the current CEO Ankur Warikoo bought majority stake from the US-based parent and named it Nearbuy.

Little app (Little Internet Pvt Ltd), on the other hand, was launched in 2015 with initial backing from Paytm, which wanted to test the waters in the hyper-local deals business. It started only with a $50 million investment from Paytm, SAIF Partners and Tiger Global Management (SAIF is also a large minority shareholder in Paytm).

Paytm did not comment on whether it bought over SAIF and Tiger’s stake in Little app.

Paytm is set to benefit from the large number of merchant partnerships with both Nearbuy and Little and an even larger pool of potential customers.