 "Infibeam Avenues")
This acquisition is expected to improve user engagement on the platform and open up new revenue streams
Payment solutions provider Infibeam Avenues on Friday said it will acquire a 54 per cent stake in news website Rediff.com India as part of its plan to expand its consumer business. The Gandhinagar-based fintech giant, which operates payment gateway CCAvenue, will acquire the stake for Rs 50 crore, which will be split equally between equity and debt.
Rediff has about 55 million monthly visitors to its website and over 5,000 businesses use its email services. The acquisition will provide Infibeam Avenues with insights into user behavior, preferences and spending habits, enabling the fintech company to sell financial services such as loans, insurance and investment products.
This is a significant deal in the Indian digital space as Rediff.com, founded in 1996, was the first Indian internet company to list on Nasdaq in 2000.
In 2000, when Rediff.com was about to go public, the internet company that provided email, news and e-commerce services was valued at between $300 million and $500 million. The company was delisted from Nasdaq in 2016. Rediff’s revenue for FY2024 was Rs 36 crore.
The Gandhinagar-based company plans to expand its payments aggregator business by leveraging the news site’s cloud-based enterprise email storage, instant messaging platform and e-commerce services.
“We have publicly announced that we are entering into financial distribution and cloud services through this particular synergy. This particular acquisition is more about cloud services and value-added services of financial distributions,” said Vishal Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, Infibeam Avenues Commercial standard.
This should improve user productivity on the platform and open up new revenue streams, Mehta said.
The company plans to monetize cloud services in the coming quarters.
“We expect the value of these services to represent 2-4% of our revenue this year. We would like to increase this figure to at least 8-10% in the coming quarters,” Mehta added.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (Q1FY25), Infibeam’s operating revenue has been pegged at Rs 752.7 crore, a marginal increase of 1.4% over Rs 742.3 crore in Q1FY24 on a consolidated basis.
Infibeam plans to combine its digital payment services, platform commerce offerings and artificial intelligence solutions with Rediff.com’s services.
This acquisition would allow the company to create a digital environment involving financial transactions and content consumption.
“I am delighted to hand over this iconic brand and its legacy to the capable hands of Vishal Mehta, Infibeam Avenues. I am confident that the new avatar of Rediff under his leadership will further strengthen the company and accelerate the growth of the business,” said Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman and Managing Director, Rediff.com.
Balakrishnan will continue to be involved in the day-to-day operations of Rediff in the coming quarters to advise the business, a person close to the development added, requesting anonymity.
An eye on a cloud
> Acquisition amount pegged at Rs 50 crore; split into equity, debt
> Infibeam plans to monetize cloud services with acquisition
> The company expects cloud revenues to account for 8-10% of its total revenue
> Rediff has 55 million monthly visitors, 5,000 businesses use its email services
First published: August 2, 2024 | 3:36 p.m. IST