The biggest M&As That Shook the Indian Startup Ecosystem If reports are to be believed, a big merger is on the cards with Paytm acquiring Freecharge
By Sanchita Dash •
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Funding, mergers, and acquisitions — the start-up ecosystem is flooded with news from these deals. Again, there are a few deals which though don't create headlines across the country, but make for an exciting day for entrepreneurs, who wait with bated breath for positive developments.
And now, if reports are to be believed, another big merger is on the cards with Paytm acquiring Freecharge, Snapdeal's digital payments vertical. Besides, Snapdeal is also in talks with Flipkart for a merger.
Entrepreneur India takes a look at some of the most recent mergers and acquisitions in India.
Babajob is Now Quikr!
One of the biggest online, classified portals in India, Quikr, recently made its 11th acquisition after it bought the jobs portal Babajobs. News reports suggest that Babajob's core team members have moved to Quikr.
The portal, which promised to make jobs accessible to all, was founded by Sean Blagsvedt, Vir Kashyap, and Ira Weise. Blagsvedt, in a blog after the acquisition, wrote, "8.5 million verified job seekers applied for better jobs on Babajob.com and over half-a-million employers across India used us to hire. With this deal, Babajob will merge with one of the largest players in the Indian Internet space and I'm excited that our vision and purpose — to digitally connect aspiring job seekers to better livelihoods — will reach an even wider audience of millions more."
Three's A Crowd – Not Here!
In its bid to become the biggest e-commerce player in the market and be more powerful in front of its rival Amazon, Flipkart first acquired Myntra and then, through Myntra, acquired Jabong. While the acquired two continue to operate separately, they come under the Flipkart family. The details of the Flipkart and Myntra are not known, even though Myntra founder Mukesh Bansal is on the board of Flipkart. However, Jabong is said to have been acquired by Myntra for a whopping $70 million.
Now, Flipkart is said to soon buy out its rival Snapdeal in a bid to quip Amazon.
All About Payments
With fintech shaping up in the country really well, how can we not talk about acquisitions in the sector! The Naspers-owned PayU acquired Citrus Pay for a huge $130million to expand their operations in India. Making way for greater inroads into the payment gateway solutions space, the global player PayU even made Amrish Rau, originally the MD of Citrus Pay, the CEO of PayU India. However, Citrus Pay had to let go of its payments wallet after the acquisition.
Tripping On Deals
Both the companies were major leaders in the travel tech space, so when MakeMyTrip and Ibibo merged, it definitely did make the news. MakeMyTrip is reported to have received $82.8 million from Ibibo's parent group. But the completion of this merger also meant that many others in the travel space like redBus, Ryde, and Rightstay joined MakeMyTrip and Ibibo to come under one parent group.
