MSME-focused online payment gateway Instamojo acquihires Showman to strengthen product, technology

The digital payment gateway market in India may grow to $1.71 billion by 2025 from $446 million in 2017. (Representative image)

Technology for MSMEs: MSME-focused online payment gateway Instamojo has acquihired Bengaluru-based virtual theatre and vernacular content platform Showman. Acquihire is the acquisition of a company primarily for the skills and expertise of its employees instead of the product and size of the firm. The deal would see Showman’s cofounder and CEO Kshitij Bhatawdekar join Instamojo as Product Manager while cofounder and COO Rutveez Roopam Rout would join Instamojo as User Research Manager to boost the product and technology capabilities of the company. Instamojo competes with Paytm, Razorpay, CC Avenue, Bill Desk, Cashfree, etc.

“The Acquihire of Showman is a first for Instamojo and comes at a time when we as a company are evolving to move to the next level. We are happy to have both Kshitij and Rutveez join our team, bringing to Instamojo their expertise and knowledge in the product and consumer space, along with their entrepreneurial spirit,” said Akash Gehani, Co-founder and COO, Instamojo. The company said it has recorded a 25 per cent growth in its merchant during the pandemic. It had early last year also acquired the e-commerce enablement company GetMeAShop that helps businesses set up their online stores.

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Post-demonetisation related challenges faced by traditional small businesses, which have been cash-first or cash-only in scaling their businesses, coupled with the government’s digital India programme had pushed them towards adopting channels for future growth. However, the impact of Covid further forced them to shift their presence online along with digital payment acceptance infrastructure. The offline to online shift by small businesses or the digitisation of the MSME sector has opened up a huge untapped market for startups and corporates. According to the Cisco and IDC survey titled 2020 Asia Pacific SMB Digital Maturity Study last year, Indian SME may add $158 to $216 billion to the country’s GDP in the coming four years on the back digitalization of their businesses.

The digital payment gateway market in India may grow to $1.71 billion by 2025 from $446 million in 2017, as per Statista, on the back of growth in e-commerce transactions. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation, the Indian e-commerce industry is likely to grow to $200 billion by 2026 from $38.5 billion in 2017.