Online ticketing and entertainment platform BookMyShow said on Tuesday it has made a strategic investment in AtomX Corp. Pvt. Ltd, a Pune-based payments technology startup. The company did not disclose financial terms of the transaction.
AtomX, founded in 2012 by Abhilash Gowdara, is a close-loop contactless, near-field communication-based (NFC-based) payments platform, used by fans and vendors across all major live events such as exhibitions, music festivals, concerts and sporting arenas. It claims to have processed more than half a million transactions in India worth over $6.5 million.
The investment by BookMyShow will allow it to seamlessly enable AtomX’s cashless payments platform and solutions on NFC cards, wristbands, and key chains that consumers can use for digital payments at music festivals, sporting events, food festivals, concerts, and other on-ground events.
It enables users to store cash in the form of digital money in their NFC chip and simply tap and pay, to buy food, beverages and merchandise instantly.
“BookMyShow has always obsessed over its customers. As we broaden the out-of-home entertainment ecosystem, we continue to improve every aspect of that customer journey. This includes safer and smoother digital transactions both, while buying tickets and for on-ground services,” said Ashish Hemrajani, founder and chief executive officer (CEO), BookMyShow.
“We also strive to provide relevant data analytics, insights around events to vendors and organizers to better deliver the experience to our customers. Our partnership with AtomX will play an instrumental role in furthering this experience,” he said.
BookMyShow chief operating officer Anil Makhija will join the board of directors of AtomX, as part of the deal.
“We are extremely excited about the contactless technology penetration in India and the future of India as it rapidly moves towards a cashless society,” said Abhilash Gowdara, founder and CEO, AtomX.
“We are looking to unify both online and offline payments, enabling live entertainment events to accept contactless bank issued cards beyond our close loop tags which offer users multiple options to tap and pay at all our live events,” he said.
Source: Mint