Paytm is eyeing these online deal companies

BENGALURU: In a bid to develop a sizeable deals business, Paytm is in talks to make two acquisitions in this space, people familiar with the development said. The Noida-based company is in talks with nearby for an acquisition while it is also moving ahead on its plan to acquire its investee company Little – an offline deals platform across areas such as restaurants, movies, hotels, salons, gyms, spas.

Paytm – with the backing of deep pocketed investors such as SoftBank and Alibaba – is looking to build an online-to-offline strategy (O2O) banking with the help of these platforms. Both the acquisitions may take another month to close, sources close to the matter said. At present, Paytm is in talks with the Singapore-based GIC and domestic venture capital firm SAIF Partners to buy their stake in Little.

Nearbuy, which saw two of its co-founders leave the company last year, has been trying to raise fresh funds. However, with those talks not going through, it has approached Paytm for an acquisition, people aware of the plans said.

When contacted, a Paytm spokesperson and Nearbuy’s founder Ankur Warikoo declined to comment on the matter while Little’s co-founder Manish Chopra did not respond to calls and text messages sent by TOI. Emails to SAIF Partners and GIC did not elicit a response till the time of going to press.