Ecommerce

Qoo10 acquires ShopClues

A Singapore-based e-commerce company Qoo10 has acquired India’s online marketplace ShopClues
online marketplace

A Singapore-based e-commerce company Qoo10 has acquired India’s online marketplace ShopClues in an all-stock deal, the two companies stated on Thursday. The deal, which per two individuals familiar with the matter valued ShopClues between $50 million and $80 million, ends years-long struggle at the Indian firm, which was valued at $1.1 billion in 2016, to find a new home. ShopClues will be merged with Qoo10, an eBay-backed firm as part of the agreement.

Founded in 2011 ShopClues and a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S.based Clues Network Inc., sells electronics and home, kitchen and lifestyle products to users in small cities and towns in India. As of earlier this year, the company claimed it was handling more than 60,000 deliveries a day. It has developed a network of over 700,000 small and micro-merchants.

The two companies stated that these merchants from ShopClues will be able to access global markets through Qoo10’s presence in Southeast Asia. Additionally, Qoo10’s merchants and its cross-border logistics business will gain access to the large Indian market with their high-quality, value-for-money products.

They also added that the merger has been approved by the board of directors and significant shareholders of both the companies. The deal includes the acquisition of Smartship and Momoe enterprise services and the Ezonow social commerce platform that ShopClues operated.

Qoo10, which is operational in Singapore, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, and Hong Kong, said it hopes the new deal will assist it further expand its business in South Asia.

The announcement today comes months after ShopClues was in conversation with Indian e-business Snapdeal for a sale. At the time, ShopClues was esteemed at about $200 million. ShopClues has raised more than $250 million throughout the years from various high-profile investors, including Tiger Global and Nexus Venture Partners.

When it raised about $140M from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Tiger Global Management and Nexus Venture Partners in 2016, it claimed at the time that it was valued at $1.1 billion.

The company has been struggling to improve its revenue for several years, during which it got engaged in merger discussions with every e-commerce player, including Flipkart, Amazon India and Paytm. In the previous year, ShopClues raised $16 million, something it never announced or acknowledged publicly, and tried to assuage employees that the company had major aspirations and planned to expand to the U.S., Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

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