PayU to buy Citrus Pay

Digital Payment provider PayU, which is owned by South Africa’s Naspers Group will buy rival Citrus Pay for $130 Million, the fifth largest deal ever in the Indian Start-up business and an indicator of the booming financial technology sector.

After the acquisition, PayU India will have more than 30 Million customers. The company forecast it will process an estimated 150 Million transactions worth $4.2 Billion in 2016. The deal is expected to give an attractive exit to Citrus Pay investors, Ascent Capital and Beenos and Sequoia Capital. It also represents the latest expansion push by Naspers, which owns the Ibibo Group in India.

Naspers is now involved in two of the five biggest deals in Indian start-ups. It also bought online bus ticketing platform RedBus in 2013 for an estimated $135 Million and owns a large minority stake in Flipkart. Rising mobile Internet usage and a regulatory push toward converting cash payments into digital are expected to drive a rapid expansion of online payments.

CarTrade buys CarWale

The auto market in India is both huge and disorganized. A number of well-funded online portals have come up in recent times to connect sellers with buyers more efficiently in this chaotic market. But now consolidation is under way as competition gets intense.

Online automobile classifieds firm CarTrade has acquired rival CarWale from German Media conglomerate Axel Springer signaling the rising consolidation in the industry segment. This comes soon after another major player in this space; CarDekho announced the acquisition of Times Internet Zigwheels. Earlier it had acquired another portal called Gaadi from the Ibibo group.

CarTrade buyout of CarWale comes a year after it raised $30 Million in a funding round led by Warburg Pincus and Chip Perry. In November 2013, CarDekho parent company Girnar raised $15 Million in a Series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital. In January 2015, it raised its big Series B round of $50 Million from Chinese investment management firm Hillhouse Capital and Hong Kong based hedge fund Tybourne Capital.

Indian Tycoon Ratan Tata had also pumped in an undisclosed amount into the company. In May, another undisclosed round of funding came from private sector lender HDFC Bank. With all the money in the bank, CarDekho has some serious muscle to flex in its tussle         with CarTrade.