Delhi-based e-commerce portal, Snap Deal, is on the look-out for small-sized acquisitions and hopes to seal two deals in the range of $1 million each in the next 3-6 months, a top company official said.
“We have earmarked $2 million (around Rs 10 crore) for acquisitions. We are in negotiations with a few entities and we hope to seal a couple of buys in the next 3-6 months,” Snap Deal Founder and CEO Mr Kunal Bahl told PTI here. In July-August, 2010, the company had acquired a 100 per cent stake in Bangalore-based Grabbon.
“We are looking at small companies which are riding on innovations and great ideas. We are not just interested in acquisitions in our space which will only add a little to our market share - we already have scale,” Mr Bahl said.
The company presently enjoys a 70 per cent market share in terms of revenue and transactions, he said. The year-old company is into selling deals on products, travels, services, entertainment and miscellaneous hobbies on its portals and is today present in 50 cities.
“By end-2011, we plan to extend our footprint to 50 more cities,” Mr Bahl said.The company plans to invest heavily in brand-building. “We plan to spend around Rs 10 crore for brand-building, mainly through TV and radio,” he said.
Snap Deal, which prides itself on being “particular about out inventory”, also sells gadgets such as i-pods, Blackberry phones and branded fashion retail products at good discounts. It presently works with over 1 lakh merchants.
Ranked 22nd in terms of traffic on its website, Snap Deal gets a marketing fee on each deal and has already turned gross profit-positive, Mr Bahl said.
“We will close FY’11 with a top-line of Rs 100 crore. The way we are growing and the way this segment is set to grow, I won’t be surprised if we touch revenue of Rs 500 crore by 2014,” he said.
The company recently raised $12 million from two private equity players - Nexus Venture Partners and IndoUS Venture Partners.