Infibeam Avenues, a payments solution provider has announced that it will acquire a 54% stake in the news website Rediff.com India. This strategic move is aimed at expanding Infibeam’s consumer-facing business. Based in Gandhinagar, Infibeam operates the payment gateway CCAvenue. The acquisition deal, worth Rs 50 crore, will be split equally into equity and debt, according to a report by Business Standard.
Rediff, which attracts around 55 million visitors monthly and serves over 5,000 companies with its email services, presents a significant opportunity for Infibeam. By gaining insights into user behavior and preferences, Infibeam can cross-sell financial services such as loans, insurance, and investment products.
Rediff.com, founded in 1996, was the first Indian internet company to be listed on Nasdaq in 2000, valued between $300 million to $500 million at that time. However, the company was delisted from Nasdaq in 2016. For the fiscal year 2024, its revenue came in at Rs 36 crore.
Infibeam plans to leverage Rediff’s cloud-based enterprise email storage, instant messaging platform, and e-commerce services to enhance its payment aggregator business. Vishal Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director of Infibeam Avenues, stated to Business Standard, “We have publicly said that we are getting into the financial distribution and cloud services with this particular synergy. This particular acquisition is more about cloud services and the value-added services of financial distributions.”
Mehta expects the acquisition to boost user engagement on the platform and create new revenue streams. He anticipates that cloud services will contribute 2-4% of Infibeam’s revenues this year, with a goal to increase this to 8-10% in the coming quarters.
The acquisition will enable Infibeam to combine its digital payment services, platform business offerings, and AI solutions with Rediff.com’s services, creating a comprehensive digital ecosystem for financial transactions and content consumption.