Paytm
Acquisitions
3
Major Deals Covered
This page covers 3 major deals from 2017 to 2018, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.
| Company | Year | Price | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insider.in | 2017 | Undisclosed | Acquired a majority stake in events and entertainment ticketing platform Insider.in (Wasteland Entertainment). |
| Nearbuy & Little | 2017 | Undisclosed | Acquired and merged local deals and merchant discovery platforms Nearbuy and Little to drive offline merchant payments. |
| Balance Technology | 2018 | Undisclosed | Acquired Bangalore-based micro-investing and automated personal finance savings startup Balance. |
2018
Acquired Bangalore-based micro-investing and automated personal finance savings startup Balance.
Enhanced Paytm Money's engineering team and automated mutual fund investment workflows for retail users.
Accelerated the launch and user adoption of Paytm Money's wealth management and mutual fund platform.
2017
Acquired a majority stake in events and entertainment ticketing platform Insider.in (Wasteland Entertainment).
Expanded Paytm's utility ecosystem into curated live entertainment, music festivals, and sports ticketing.
Became part of Paytm's ticketing business, which was sold to Zomato in August 2024 for ~$238 million (₹2,048 crore).
2017
Acquired and merged local deals and merchant discovery platforms Nearbuy and Little to drive offline merchant payments.
Created India's largest deals discovery platform, incentivizing consumers to transact via Paytm QR codes at retail stores.
Accelerated merchant acquisition across dining, retail, and salon services, establishing Paytm's offline merchant leadership.
Paytm's strategy since 2024 has three parts: grow the device merchant base and its payment processing revenue, use merchant and consumer data to distribute more loans for partner banks and NBFCs, and keep costs flat through AI and automation. In 2026 the company said it would hire about 4,000 people, mostly in sales, while trimming roughly 1% of staff. Marketing spend fell 19% in FY26.
Paytm runs a capital-light, two-sided model. On the merchant side it deploys QR codes, Soundbox audio devices and Android card machines, charging monthly device subscription fees and earning payment processing revenue on cards, EMI and online payments (UPI person-to-merchant payments carry zero MDR, so device rentals and online gateway fees matter). Paytm received an online Payment Aggregator licence in 2025, which lifted its online merchant business. On the consumer side, the app handles UPI, bill payments, recharges and travel bookings. The second engine is financial services distribution. Paytm does not lend from its own balance sheet; it sources merchant loans, personal loans and Paytm Postpaid credit for regulated banks and NBFCs and earns distribution and collection fees. In Q1 FY27 financial services revenue rose 45% year on year to ~$94.4 million (₹814 crore), while total operating revenue reached ~$284 million (₹2,448 crore). Wealth (Paytm Money) and insurance broking add smaller revenue streams.
In 2017, Paytm acquired a majority stake in Insider.in, India's leading curated events and ticketing platform founded by Shreyas Srinivasan, building Paytm Insider into a major ticketing hub for live concerts, sports matches, and comedy festivals before selling it to Zomato in 2024 for ~$238 million (₹2,048 crore).
In December 2017, Paytm acquired hyper-local deals and coupon platforms Nearbuy and Little, merging them to form a unified local merchant discount and consumer deals platform inside the Paytm ecosystem.
Paytm acquired Chennai-based movie ticketing platform TicketNew from Alibaba Pictures, adding cinema ticketing in South India. TicketNew was part of the business sold to Zomato in 2024.
In 2019 Paytm took a majority stake in CreditMate (Urja Money), a digital loan collection platform, to support its lending distribution business.
Paytm uses targeted acquisitions to accelerate entry into specialized verticals (ticketing, local deals, loan recovery algorithms), while building foundational payment engines, Soundbox hardware, and UPI integrations entirely in-house.
Following the ~$238 million (₹2,048 crore) sale of its entertainment ticketing business to Zomato, Paytm is prioritizing core financial technology, utilizing cash reserves for internal R&D, merchant device expansion, and AI-driven underwriting partnerships.
In August 2024, One97 Communications sold its movie, sports, and live event ticketing businesses (Paytm Insider and TicketNew) to Zomato for approximately ₹2,048 crore ($244 million) in all cash. The transaction strengthened Paytm's balance sheet, added substantial liquid capital, and allowed management to focus 100% on core merchant payments and financial services distribution.
In 2017, Paytm acquired a majority stake in Urja Money (CreditMate), integrating its proprietary machine learning collection algorithms to automate debt recovery and digital reminder workflows for its partner NBFCs and banks, maintaining high portfolio asset quality.
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