Mobile wallet and e-commerce
company Paytm has bought home service marketplace Near.in for an undisclosed
amount. The move is part of its increasing focus on online to offline (O2O) and
Hyperlocal commerce. The company expects more than half of its sales to come
from the Hyperlocal channel by 2016.
Near.in (run by Thumbspot Inc.),
which connects users with local businesses for home services through a
marketplace app, was founded in December 2014. It last raised a seed funding of
$300,000 by a group of Angel investors. Other than this there are investors
from Healthkart, SAP Labs, and Aspiring Minds. Near has a significant network
of local service providers in place and a stellar team leading it.
Paytm is India’s largest mobile
commerce platform. With its mobile first strategy, Paytm does more than $100
Million transactions of various digital and physical goods every month. Paytm
Wallet is India’s dominant mobile Paytm service platform. Based in Delhi-NCR,
its investors include Ant Financials (AliPay), SAIF partners, Sapphire Venture
and Silicon Valley Bank.
The company also plans to venture
into travel with Hotel, air and rail ticket bookings in partnership with online
travel companies such as Goibibo and Yatra and budget accommodation marketplaces
OYO Rooms and ZO Rooms. The company already sells bus tickets. Apart from tying
up with online travel partners, the company will also allow offline travel
agents to list on its platform.
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