Paytm has acquired majority stake in Mumbai based online ticketing and events platform Insider.in. The platform allows its users to discover and book events and activities across many cities in India. Insider is operated by OML which also runs and owns the intellectual rights to popular music festival Bacardi NH7 Weekender.
This will give Paytm customers access to the listings on Insider. It not only features local events but also activities making it a suitable extension to the Paytm travel business. Insider founder Shreyas Srinivasan will continue to run the business while OML founders Vijay Nair and Ajay Nair will continue to be stakeholders and will remain on the advisory board.
Madhur Deora, Chief Financial Officer and SVP- Paytm commented, “Events discovery and ticket booking is a challenge for customers and organizers alike. We are excited to partner with Insider to help our users discover and book tickets. We believe that digital discovery and events marketing expertise will increase supply of quality events in India.”
“From the first meeting with Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Madhur, we realized that Paytm was a perfect partner for Insider. We are excited to join forces with them and build out the best event discovery and ticketing experience in India” said OML Founder Vijay Nair.
While adding more value for Insider, the deal also adds another piece fuelling the horizontal expansion of Paytm. Taking a hint from the success of its Chinese investor, Paytm is creating a wide ecommerce ecosystem and this deal brings vertical expertise without building from scratch. It will also complement the travel vertical as it adds local discovery service right where the customers are able to book their travel. The fact that payment is seamlessly integrated into all their services further makes it easier for them to drive usage for new products and services through the same platform. Expect more developments to strengthen the individual verticals as Paytm continues its horizontal expansion to compete against multiple etailers and OTAs.
