Paytm invests in Hyderabad based AbhiBus

Well Well! Who doesn’t know Paytm? The folks at Paytm just made online shopping, mobile recharges, online bill payments, buying movie tickets and paying for cabs quite easier.

Paytm , launched in 2010 and  owned by One97 Communications initially focused on Mobile and DTH Recharging. This company in itself has grown so much since its inception that today it invested in two fast growing firms – AbhiBus and ClearTax.

AbhiBus ( meaning ‘bus now’) is a Hyderabad based startup and is one of India’s fastest growing online bus fastest growing online aggregator of bus tickets inventory across India. It provides end-to-end software and other value added solutions for the Bus Transport Industry. It has offices in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai and was founded by Sudhakar Reddy in 2007.

ClearTax is an Indian Income Tax Return e-filing website based out of New Delhi. It helps people e-file their return by means of uploading their Form-16. ClearTax processed tax return e-filings for 300,000 individuals in assessment year 2014-15.

When keenly seen, both the firms are operating in different segments and Paytm has invested into two different sectors. The investment in AbhiBus apparently seems to be very interesting as this firm was funded right when Paytm saw it coming as a competition. Paytm itself offers bus ticketing services and could not be immediately ascertained if the investment is related to a backward integration or even a possible acquisition in the future.

As a matter of fact, AbhiBus recently partnered with JustRechargeIt.com, an online platform for mobile, data card and DTH recharges and a competitor of Paytm, to sell bus ticket inventory on its portal. AbhiBus, previously has successfully raised money from promoters of BS Ltd.

One97 communication has recently invested in other ventures as well including –  NDTV’s e-commerce platform christened Gadgets360, logistics analytics startup LogiNext and auto hailing and hyper-local delivery app Jugnoo. By investing, One97 aims to grow itself by allowing other small ventures to develop as well. This is an excellent initiative by One97 and shall definitely be appreciated. Hopefully, the investment in both all the firms result in a win – win situation for the parties.

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