 "Snapdeal buys Freecharge to become the largest m-commerce firm")
E-retailer Snapdeal.com said on Wednesday it has bought online mobile recharge firm Freecharge for an undisclosed amount in a bid to boost its reach in the fast-growing mobile transactions business.
Snapdeal, backed by SoftBank Corp, competes with Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc's India unit in the country's online shopping market, which is expected to be worth $102 billion by 2020, according to Morgan Stanley.
Easy availability of smartphones and cheap data plans have resulted in most of those transactions to be made via apps, where consumers use their mobile phones for everything from buying clothes to booking movie tickets.
Freecharge allows users to top up amounts on their mobile phone or internet connections and get coupons as reward for using its service.
"This is one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of the Internet industry in India and sets up Snapdeal to build the most impactful digital commerce ecosystem in India," Snapdeal said in a statement.
"This is one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of the Internet industry in India and sets up Snapdeal to build the most impactful digital commerce ecosystem in India," Snapdeal said in a statement.
Snapdeal Chief Executive Kunal Bahl said 1 million mobile transactions would take place daily once the companies are combined. About 75% of all Snapdeal transactions now are through mobile users, he said.
Freecharge would remain an independent platform even after the deal, which is expected to close within the next 6 months, Bahl said, without specifying how much much it paid to buy the mobile recharge firm.The companies will collaborate to offer a seamless shopping experience to customers across both the platform's offerings.
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With the acquisition, Snapdeal would become "the largest mobile commerce company in India," the company said in a statement.
In the past Snapdeal has acquired various e-commerce platforms, most of which it has merged into it's own website.
In the past Snapdeal has acquired various e-commerce platforms, most of which it has merged into it's own website.
Major acquisitions by Snapdeal
• Grabbon.com – June 2010 (acquisition brought on board two key senior leaders of Snapdeal – Sandeep Komaravelly (SVP Marketing) and Tony Navin (SVP – Electronics & Home)
• eSportsbuy.com – April 2012 (marketplace for sports products)
• Shopo.in – May 2013 (marketplace for Indian handicrafts)
• Doozton.com – May 2013 (platform for social recommendations for fashion products)
• Wishpicker – Dec 2014 (gifting recommendation technology firm)
• Exclusively.com - February 2015 (Luxury goods products portal)
?• Freecharge - April 2015 (Online mobile recharge platform)