Snapdeal looking to list in the US in 2 years, to launch own payment gateway

Delhi-based Jasper Infotech Pvt Ltd, which runs the online marketplace Snapdeal.com, is looking to list in the US bourses in 12-24 months and the company is already in talks with its lawyers in this regard, according to a PTI report, quoting its co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl.

The firm, however, is yet to decide on the size of the issue.

According to Bahl, the US market is a more mature for technology-driven companies and so is better exposed to investors, prompting it to look to list there.

It's not clear if the firm is looking to raise fresh cash or also provide an exit or part exit opportunity to its existing investors. We have contacted Bahl for more details, and will update the story when we get the same.

In September this year, the government had decided to allow unlisted companies in India to raise capital abroad through a public listing without the requirement of prior or subsequent listing locally. At present, unlisted companies that are incorporated in India are not allowed to directly list in overseas markets without prior or simultaneous listing in Indian markets.

Some tech firms like MakeMyTrip are already listed in the US through a different holding structure where the parent firm itself is incorporated in the US.

Fresh funding would help Snapdeal compete better with both local and international rivals in the online marketplace in India.

In October this year, there were reports that Snapdeal was looking to raise $150-200 million in a new round of funding from existing investor eBay, as well as SoftBank, a Japan-based telecommunications, internet and media conglomerate, and a number of unnamed private equity investors.

Early this year, it had raised $50 million from eBay, Japan's Recruit Holdings, Intel Capital, Russian venture fund ru-Net and Saama Capital. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Indo-US Venture Partners (now known as Kalaari Capital) and Kenneth Glass have also participated in the funding round. This took its total funding to a little over $100 million.

To launch own payment gateway

In a separate report, Snapdeal said it is launching its own payment gateway, which will authorise credit card payments and process them securely through a user's bank account. It may allow other e-com sites to use the service.

Customers can save their credit card information, billing and shipping details in the new system. It will also have analytics relating to the customer's specific choices, allowing them to complete transactions in a few quick steps.

In July this year, the country's largest consumer ecommerce player Flipkart launched its own payment gateway PayZippy. The gateway is housed under a separate firm Flipkart Payment Gateway Services (FPGS) Pvt Ltd and the group started with the B2B offering of the online payments solution.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)