Paytm is reportedly looking to acquire Noida-based last-minute hotel booking app, NightStay, for around $20 million. The development was confirmed by NightStay founder Nasr Khan in a news report by VCCircle.
NightStay was started by Nasr Khan in December 2014 with a basic alpha app. The beta version of the product was announced in March 2015. The idea behind NightStay was to create a platform that can provide instant hotel bookings for travellers while assuring a high quality of service and hygiene.
NighStay offers hotels an open and flexible option to provide flash accessibility on its app. They can make their inventories available on the NightStay app, which is available from 12:00 noon till 12:00 midnight, and increase their footfall while maintaining their brand identity.
The startup is present in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa, Chennai, and Hyderabad. It raised a $500K funding in August 2015 from BedRock Ventures and angel investors Rajesh Sawhney of GSF and Shailesh Vickram Singh, a partner at SeedFund.
According to reports, the Paytm’s acquisition of NightStay signals the digital payments company’s foray into the hospitality space.
The NightStay acquisition is a step ahead in this direction for Paytm. In May, Paytm had acquired Chennai-based online ticketing platform TicketNew to boost its entertainment arm.
Earlier this month, it invested $8.95 million (INR 61 Crore) in Entertainment armand also gave its Paytm Inbox users access to free in-app content across categories such as Live TV, News, Cricket, Entertainment Videos, and Games on the go. In July 2017, Paytm also acquired a majority stake in Insider.in, an events ticketing platform, to tap into the rapidly growing live entertainment space in India.
