Snapdeal acquires FreeCharge

FreeCharge will continue to function as an independent platform.

Online marketplace Snapdeal has acquired FreeCharge, a mobile transactions platform. It is a big acquisition by Snapdeal and will help in building an impactful digital commerce ecosystem in India.

With this acquisition, Snapdeal claims to have become the largest mobile commerce company in India, offering the widest range of products and services, including financial services, mobile recharge and utility payments with an exponentially growing user base of over 40 million.

FreeCharge is a platform where users can pay their mobile, DTH and utility payments across most major operators. Every day, 75 million mobile recharges are done in India by a section of India's 800 million mobile phone subscribers, out of which currently only 3 million recharges are done online.

FreeCharge offers a convenient and efficient solution applicable to consumers for paying utility bills, and especially doing mobile recharges, which often end up being the first e-commerce transaction that a consumer does online, given the ticket size, convenience and instant gratification.

Speaking about this move, Kunal Bahl, co-founder & CEO, Snapdeal, says, "The age of monolithic e-commerce platforms is over; it is now time to build an impactful digital commerce ecosystem in India that is multi-dimensional 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."

Kunal Shah, co-founder & CEO, FreeCharge, says, "FreeCharge is at the forefront of the mobile commerce revolution, which is taking place in India right now. We have been ahead of the curve and, as a result, 85 per cent of our transactions originate from mobile; these transactions have very high repeat customer behaviour. The partnership with Snapdeal comes at the right time. I foresee this as an opportunity to accelerate our road map in India and reach out to millions of users across the country. As a brand, Snapdeal has a massive recall, and we are very excited to be a part of the team that is creating the biggest digital ecosystem of the country. FreeCharge's success was enabled by a team of 200 extremely talented professionals, and I would like to extend a special thanks to Alok Goel, Sandeep Tandon and a wonderfully supportive investor base."

FreeCharge will continue to function as an independent platform and all aspects of FreeCharge's shopping experience will remain intact. The companies will collaborate to offer a seamless shopping experience to customers across both the platforms, offering an even wider range of products and services.

In February 2010, Bahl, along with Rohit Bansal, started Snapdeal.com with the 11 million+ products across 500+ diverse categories from thousands of regional, national and international brands and retailers. With millions of users and 100,000 sellers, Snapdeal has become a popular shopping destination for internet users across the country, delivering to 5000+ cities and towns in India.

FreeCharge was founded in 2010 by Shah and Sandeep Tandon. With a formidable team of engineers and product managers, FreeCharge has built a highly rated user experience on the mobile app.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com