Snapdeal Snaps Up Indian Bill Payment Service

With its latest acquisition, Snapdeal is a very big deal in India.

The online commerce company, which counts Softbank and eBay among its investors, announced yesterday (April 8) that it has acquired mobile transactions platform FreeCharge.

The deal, which Snapdeal touts as “one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of the Internet industry in India,” positions the mobile commerce company as the largest in that country. Indeed, the pickup of FreeCharge is just the latest in a series of big moves by the company, which cites its user base at over 40 million and counting.

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed by the company, but The Economic Times previously valued it at $450 million.

FreeCharge, which allows users to pay their mobile as well as utility bills on the go, will continue to function as its own entity.

Of the deal, Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl stated, “The age of monolithic eCommerce platforms is over; it is now time to build an impactful digital commerce ecosystem in India that is multidimensional and inclusive, delivering well defined experiences to consumers. At Snapdeal we are building an ecosystem that powers billions of digital commerce transactions in the country in the coming years. With this game-changing partnership with FreeCharge, we have significantly enhanced our user base and now offer all our customers access to the widest selection of products and services online, making digital commerce an even more intrinsic part of their lives. We are thrilled to have the very talented and supercharged team of FreeCharge, under Kunal (Shah)’s leadership, working as one family, towards creating life changing experiences for buyers and sellers in our country.”