Paytm on Thursday said it has acquired a majority stake in Insider.in, the ticketing arm of events company OML Entertainment.
The acquisition, terms of which are undisclosed, will allow Paytm to integrate events listed on Insider.in on Paytm app, giving a major boost to its online ticketing service. Patym introduced movie and events tickets in March last year.
OML Entertainment, better known as Only Much Louder, is the creator (and intellectual property owner) of premium events like NH7 Weekender, EDC and The Grub Fest. It launched Insider.in (Wasteland Entertainment Pvt. Ltd) in 2014 to ticket its events. The ticketing platform later added events from other creators and branched into restaurants and travel discovery.
“From the first meeting with Vijay Shekhar and Madhur, we realized 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,” OML founder Vijay Nair said in a statement.
According to estimates shared by Paytm, India’s organized events industry currently stands at Rs. 4,000 crore, with online ticketing accounting for a mere 10% of the overall volume.
“This is a natural extension for us as we continue to build India’s go-to destination for online movies and events,” Paytm’s chief financial officer and senior vice president Madhur Deora said. “We believe that digital discovery and events marketing expertise will increase supply of quality events in India.”
Source: Mint