Bengaluru-based Instamojo looks at acquisition to boost e-commerce business

Bengaluru-based digital payments and services start-up Instamojo is in talks to acquire an online platform to strengthen its e-commerce business, a top company executive said on Friday. The deal is likely to close by the end of the month. The company hopes the acquisition will boost its e-commerce arm.

“With this acquisition, our e-commerce story will become solid,” said Sampad Swain, co-founder and chief executive officer of Instamojo. Founded in 2012, Instamojo is a full-stack online commerce platform, which empowers small businessmen in the services sector through its bouquet of three services — online payment, e-commerce, and lending. The Kalaari Capital-backed firm, whose payments gateway is the strongest of all the services that it provides, is building its logistics team and finalising a cash-on delivery option to strengthen its e-commerce business. It has hired third-party logistics partners such as FedEx and DHL to facilitate last-mile deliveries.

“Currently, our payments business forms around 78 per cent of our revenue while the remaining come from non-payments, including e-commerce and lending. In the next three years, we are hoping to reach a 50:50 ratio for payments and non-payments services,” added Swain.

After launching the lending arm in September last year, the firm has disbursed loans worth Rs 120 crore. The average loan amount is around Rs 12,000. While the lending platform has grown eight times year on year, its e-commerce business has grown three times over the past one year, it said. 

The company, which claims to have around a million users, has launched an app store for MSMEs called the Mojo Developers Programme.