Finally, all the speculations are over. One of the biggest digital payment startups, PayTM has finally announced the acquisition of Insider.in. The startup has acquired a majority stake in Insider.in, a ticketing platform for about 35 crores. This acquisition will enable hundreds of millions of PayTM customers to discover a wide selection of events and book instantly.

Shreyas Srinivasan, Insider.in founder will continue running the business, while Only Much Louder (OML) founders and brothers Vijay and Ajay Nair will remain stakeholders and members of the advisory board.

Earlier owned by OML, Insider.in is one of the leading ticketing platforms in India for events and properties including for events and properties, including NH7 Weekender, EDC and The Grub Fest. "From the first meeting with Vijay Shekhar and Madhur, we realised that Paytm was a perfect partner for Insider. We are excited to join forces with them and build out the best event discovery and ticketing experience in India,” said OML Founder Vijay Nair.

Following the acquisition, the focus will be on making Insider.in accessible to Paytm users. Commenting on the development, Madhur Deora, Chief Financial Officer and SVP, PayTM said, "Events discovery and ticket booking is a challenge for customers and organisers alike. We believe that digital discovery and events marketing expertise will increase the supply of quality events in India. This is a natural extension for us as we continue to build India’s go-to destination for online movies and events.”

The confirmation of this deal came after two to three months when Vijay Nair met Vijay Shekhar Sharma founder of PayTM to discuss the matter before closing the deal.

“ At Insider, we curate the best events and experiences so users can seamlessly discover the best way to spend their leisure time. Our platform also provides tools, data and analytics to organizers that enable them to conceptualize, market and execute their events more efficiently. Our partnership with Paytm will enable us to reach more organizers and event goers, and exponentially grow this ecosystem in India,” said Shreyas Srinivasan, Founder-CEO, Insider.in.

With the current user base of more than 225 million, Paytm is on a mission to bring half a billion Indians to the mainstream of the economy using mobile payment, commerce and recently launched Payment Bank. Paytm is founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and is the Consumer brand of India’s leading mobile internet company One97 Communications. Headquartered in the National Capital Region, India, the company’s investors include Ant Financial (Alipay), Alibaba Group, SoftBank, SAIF Partners and Mediatek.

As per PayTM, India’s organized events industry is currently at Rs. 4,000 Cr, with organized sporting leagues and events accounting for the largest portion of ticket sales. Online ticketing accounts for a mere 10% of the overall volume since customers face hurdles in the form of limited event discovery.

After establishing the country’s fastest growing online movie ticketing service spanning 3500 screens across 550 cities Paytm has been expanding into the event's ticketing and discovery, helping customers discover events on its platform.
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