Paytm takes majority stake in OML’s Insider.in

Paytm, India’s biggest provider of digital payments, has taking a controlling stake in Insider.in, a ticketing platform backed by leading festival promoter Only Music Louder (NH7 Weekender, EDC India).

The deal, says Paytm, will focus on providing its 220 million customers with “access to events listed on Insider” and increasing the number of tickets sold online in India from the current 10%.

“Events discovery and ticket booking is a challenge for customers and organisers alike,” comments Paytm CFO and SVP Madhur Deora. “We are excited to partner with Insider to help our users discover and book tickets. We believe that digital discovery and events marketing expertise will increase supply of quality events in India.”

“We believe that digital discovery and events marketing expertise will increase supply of quality events in India”

Only Much Louder founder Vijay Nair adds: “From the first meeting with [Paytm founder] Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Madhur, we realised 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.”

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, although India’s Economic Times estimates the deal to be worth more than ₹350 million (US$5.4m).

Many Indians, traditionally used to paying in cash, switched to digital ‘wallets’ such as Paytm around last December’s demonetisation crisis, which saw ticket sales drop an estimated 1,000–1,500 per day as a result of the shortage in cash. India’s live business grew 25% in 2016 (the most recently available data).

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.