Flipkart looking to buy stake in BookMyShow: Report

Homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart is in talks to pick a minority stake in ticketing platform BookMyShow, reports Economic Times.

Citing people familiar with the discussions, the report says that though the talks are only in the initial stage, it may see the online retailer investing fresh capital into the ticketing platform or Flipkart may buy shares from some of its investors.

The potential partnership with BookMyShow is clearly aimed at building out its own services and transaction offering against rival Paytm. This will also allow Flipkart to offer a range of services to keep customers coming back to its platform.

Flipkart, which secured nearly $2.5 billion in funding from Japan’s SoftBank Group in August plans to pursue more M&A deals in the coming days. Last month, it bought F1 Info Solutions, which offers repair services for mobiles and electronics, for an undisclosed amount.

Both Paytm and Amazon have been working to build out integrated service verticals beyond their core business. While Amazon already has Local Finds, Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Now, Paytm has also upped its ante with its recent purchase of deals and discovery platforms Little and Nearbuy.