Infibeam to acquire Snapdeal subsidiary Unicommerce for Rs 120 crore

By

Maverick Martins

Published
May 8, 2018

​Infibeam is all set to acquire Snapdeal subsidiary Unicommerce in Rs 120 crore (approx $18 million) deal, which is expected to give the latter sufficient funds to remain competitive in the Indian e-commerce market. 
 

Snapdeal is currently focusing on its 2.0 plan to revive the fortunes of the firm solely through e-commerce and is offloading its other services to pump in the required funds to run and scale up operations of its marketplace.
 
Snapdeal had sold its payment services unit Freecharge to Axis Bank for Rs 385 crore (approx $ 57.8 million) last year and most recently sold its logistics arm Vulcan Express to Future Supply Chain Solutions for Rs 35 crore (approx $ 5.3 million).

Snapdeal had made a net loss of 4,647 crore rupees (approx $ 699 million) during the 2017 financial year coupled with decrease in income.
 
“Through Unicommerce, we plan to boost our e-commerce enablement capabilities and expand the product offerings for existing clients. This acquisition would help us further create a comprehensive e-commerce solution by offering extended capabilities to transact with other leading online marketplaces,” Vishal Mehta, Managing Director, Infibeam said in a statement.
 
“We are deeply committed to the growth of Unicommerce, fully support the current management team and plan to further invest in the business,” he said.
 
Jason Kothari, chief strategy and investment officer at Snapdeal, said, “The sale of Unicommerce is a continuation of the Snapdeal 2.0 plan to divest and focus on our core consumer e-commerce business."
 
Unicommerce has over 10,000 sellers, brands and online retailers as its clients. Snapdeal (Jasper Infotech Ltd) had acquired Unicommerce for an undisclosed amount in March 2015. Unicommerce achieved full profitability last year and was eyeing to make a gross profit of Rs 150 crore in the current fiscal.