After acquiring Paytm, Alibaba has decided to dig deeper into Indian Market. The Chinese E-commerce giant has acquired a majority stake in India’s second-largest online ticketing platform, TicketNew. It is said that the Alibaba has taken 70% of stake in TicketNew for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition is said to have taken place through Alibaba’s flagship entertainment arm, Alibaba Pictures Group Limited. Alibaba will also be investing Rs 120 crore over a period of time into TicketNew. This is the first online entertainment investment by Alibaba Pictures in India.
The Chennai Based startup was founded in the year 2007 by Ramkumar Nammalvar. TicketNew is a privately owned company and provides online ticket booking services for movies. The company has the ability to book movie theater tickets in over 300 cities across India and currently lists more than 3000 plus screens on its site.
Orbgen Technologies Private Limited, which runs Ticketnew has come up the financial year 2015-16 at Rs. 18 crores, and the company has been earning profits since half a decade now.
Alibaba Entertainment has been expanding its business beyond its home market. The firm has opened a brand new office in Los Angeles, USA, and has been looking to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region. In India, online movie ticketing is becoming increasingly popular with increasing penetrations in Tier-2 and Tier-3 regions.
Alibaba investment in the entertainment industry is profitable as Online ticketing is increasingly becoming popular in the Tier-2 and Tier-3 regions of India. With the two recent hits of Indian Cinema, Dangal and Baahubali have grossed over $125 Million each and still counting. Ticketnew claims over 50% of tickets have been booked through their portal.
TicketNew Chief Technology Officer Sasiraman Venkatesan said, “We are a strong and growing force in India and, with Alibaba Pictures behind us, we will develop and grow our business at a much faster rate with the benefit of its global network, resources, and technology.” Read more about Indian Startup Ecosystem.
Recommended for you
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.