Zomato on Wednesday said it has acquired digital payments company Paytm, which sells movie and event tickets, for $244.2 million (approximately ₹2,049 crore). The food delivery platform aims to boost its fast-growing ticketing business.
The acquisition will strengthen Zomato’s presence in the Indian online ticketing market for films and live events, which is currently dominated by Reliance-backed BookMyShow.
Paytm, BookMyShow’s closest competitor since 2017, will cede market share to Zomato through the sale of its ‘ticketnew’ platform for selling movie tickets and its ‘Insider’ platform for live event tickets.
In a letter to shareholders, Zomato said the acquisition will more than triple its total order book for non-core businesses in the next two years.
Non-core businesses – restaurant reservation services and event planning and ticket sales – accounted for just 2% of Zomato’s total revenue last year, but were also its fastest-growing segments.
Zomato launched its ticketing business over a year ago.
Under the agreement, Paytm’s platform will continue to provide ticketing services for 12 months until Zomato fully migrates to its newly launched District mobile app.
Zomato will also retain around 280 employees from Paytm’s entertainment ticketing business.
Paytm built its movie ticketing business internally and acquired Insider and TicketNew for Rs 268 crore in 2017-18.
However, the company is now shedding those businesses to focus on its core payments and financial services businesses after the Reserve Bank of India ordered it to downsize its banking division in January.
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Udaipur Kiran, his insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.