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Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl has confirmed that the e-commerce marketplace has acquired online recharge and couponing site Freecharge. He also claimed that together, they are now the largest m-commerce company in India. The value and terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but the deal was pegged at a value of about $450 million (Rs 2,800 crore), which will make it the biggest such deal in the Indian consumer internet industry, eclipsing Flipkart’s acquisition of Myntra for about $330 million.

The acquisition was bound to be expensive given the amount of funding that Freecharge has raised. In February, Freecharge raised $80 million from San Francisco-based hedge fund Valiant Capital Management and Hong Kong-based hedge fund Tybourne Capital Management, with participation from existing investors. At that time, it was believed to be valued at about $350 million. Freecharge had also raised $33 million from Sequoia Capital, Sofina and RuNet in September last year. Freecharge claims to have over 20 million registered users and over 85% of its transactions are on mobile.

The companies also had a bit of fun on Twitter:  

 

 

 

 

Snapdeal on an acquisition overdrive

– Just last month, Snapdeal had acquired a majority stake in Gurgaon-based financial products and services platform RupeePower for an undisclosed amount. Following the deal, Snapdeal will start offering a financial services marketplace, where you can expect to get home, auto and personal loans, credit cards and extended warranty among other services.

– Earlier in the month, Snapdeal had picked up a minority stake in logistics firm GoJavas to strengthen its supply chain infrastructure.

Also Read: Why Snapdeal wants to buy Freecharge