Snapdeal has acquired mobile recharge platform Freecharge in a
deal that is billed as the largest Indian buy out so far in the consumer
Internet space. The company did not disclose the deal size, which according to
sources could be over $400 million in cash and stock.
"Together we represent the largest m-commerce company in the country now," said Kunal Bahl, CEO & Co-founder of Snapdeal.
ET had reported that the ecommerce major is in advanced talks to buy online mobile recharge platform Freecharge for $450 million (Rs 2,800 crore) on March 12. The deal is larger than Flipkart's $300 million acquisition of its smaller rival Myntra in May last year.
Close to $116 million from investors including San Francisco-based head fund Valiant Capital Management, Hong Kong-based hedge fund Tybourne Capital Management, Sequoia Capital, RuNet and Sofina. The Mumbai based company was founded in 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon.
Delhi-based Jasper Infotech which owns Snapdeal has announced smaller acquisitions in the past. But this will be a first for the company which competes with Bangalore based Flipkart, Amazon and Softbank backed Paytm.
Snapdeal had earlier acquired Exclusively.in in February, fashion discovery startup Doozton and Wishpicker in 2014. Rival Flipkart is also expected to acquire more companies in 2015, as it looks to clock $8 billion in gross merchandise value (total value of goods sold) this year.
"More niche acquisitions are likely to happen this year as companies like Flipkart grow in areas such as grocery and sports," said Sharda Balaji of Bengaluru based Novojuris Legal which works with multiple ecommerce startups.
Indian ecommerce sector has seen over $2 billion in investment in 2014 as it looks fend off Amazon's entry into the market and corner a share of the $600 billion retail industry. Growing middle class income and urbanization is expected to push the retail industry to a size of $1 trillion by 2020, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group and Retailers Association of India in February. By then, the ecommerce is expected to be over $60 billion in size.
"Together we represent the largest m-commerce company in the country now," said Kunal Bahl, CEO & Co-founder of Snapdeal.
ET had reported that the ecommerce major is in advanced talks to buy online mobile recharge platform Freecharge for $450 million (Rs 2,800 crore) on March 12. The deal is larger than Flipkart's $300 million acquisition of its smaller rival Myntra in May last year.
Close to $116 million from investors including San Francisco-based head fund Valiant Capital Management, Hong Kong-based hedge fund Tybourne Capital Management, Sequoia Capital, RuNet and Sofina. The Mumbai based company was founded in 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon.
Delhi-based Jasper Infotech which owns Snapdeal has announced smaller acquisitions in the past. But this will be a first for the company which competes with Bangalore based Flipkart, Amazon and Softbank backed Paytm.
Snapdeal had earlier acquired Exclusively.in in February, fashion discovery startup Doozton and Wishpicker in 2014. Rival Flipkart is also expected to acquire more companies in 2015, as it looks to clock $8 billion in gross merchandise value (total value of goods sold) this year.
"More niche acquisitions are likely to happen this year as companies like Flipkart grow in areas such as grocery and sports," said Sharda Balaji of Bengaluru based Novojuris Legal which works with multiple ecommerce startups.
Indian ecommerce sector has seen over $2 billion in investment in 2014 as it looks fend off Amazon's entry into the market and corner a share of the $600 billion retail industry. Growing middle class income and urbanization is expected to push the retail industry to a size of $1 trillion by 2020, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group and Retailers Association of India in February. By then, the ecommerce is expected to be over $60 billion in size.
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