Paytm acquires Alibaba-backed TicketNew for around $40 million

Online payments firm Paytm has acquired Alibaba-backed ticketing firm TicketNew for an undisclosed amount in a move that is likely to strengthen its position in the ticketing space.

A source told Moneycontrol that the size of the deal was around $40 million.

Paytm, which entered the online ticketing space in March 2016, claims to have sold over 52 million tickets in the last one year through its platform.  It said that even after the acquisition is concluded, the TicketNew brand will continue to operate under its own name.

“TicketNew founders have built a fantastic business in South India and share the same partnership mindset as Paytm. Under their leadership, Paytm is seeking to connect TicketNew partner cinemas to Paytm’s more than 300 million customers and further invest in helping grow their occupancy and revenues,” said Madhur Deora, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Paytm.

Alibaba Pictures, the entertainment arm of Alibaba Group, had acquired a majority stake in Chennai-based TicketNew for an undisclosed amount in June 2017. Incidentally, Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Financial are key stakeholders in Paytm as well.

Ticket booking is an important segment for Paytm and this is the second ticketing-focused company that it has bought. Only last year, it acquired a majority stake in Insider.in, an events ticketing platform that allows users to book tickets for events such as the NH7 Weekender, EDC and The Grub Fest.

Insider.in was earlier owned and operated by event management company Only Much Louder (OML).

Paytm currently sells tickets for events, music, sports, comedy and other lifestyle categories and competes directly with market leader BookMyShow. While BookMyShow is currently the ticketing partner for around 4,500 screens in the country, Paytm is not far behind with 4,000 screens.

Paytm last raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank in May 2017.