BookMyShow: Is Flipkart looking to take on Paytm in online ticketing space?

Key highlights:

• BookMyShow is looking for backing in this space from Flipkart
• BookMyShow is looking to sell minority stake in the company to Flipkart
• Paytm has been pumping in money into the online ticketing business

With Paytm making its entry into the online ticketing space last year with Alibaba's backing, India's leading online ticketing platform, BookMyShow may now have a new suitor -- Flipkart. 

A LiveMint report said that Flipkart is looking to buy a small stake in India's largest online ticket company. However, there is a twist. 

39% of BookMyShow is owned by Reliance Industries Ltd by way of Network18. 

Paytm has been pumping in money into the online ticketing business since its entry into the space last year and even acquired event booking site Insider.in for nearly Rs 35 crore.

BookMyShow posted a profit of Rs 3.1 crore on a revenue of Rs 248 crore in the year that ended March 2016.

The investment from Flipkart, which has a cash reserve of $4 billion, will give it the space that it needs and also could give it access to Flipkart's loyal customer base.
 
Both Flipkart and BookMyShow have a common investor Accel Partners, which is one of the oldest and reputed venture capitalist in the country.

Flipkart has been looking to make its entry into various other categories such as the movie ticketing space and even the grocery space. There were even talks of it looking to invest in one of the top online grocery stores in India.

While other online booking segments have yet to turn in profits, the online ticketing space has already been established and is growing in India. This is something Flipkart is looking for as it will give it repeated purchases on its platform.

The partnership between the two could even help in cross selling as Flipkart too could selling tickets on its platform and BookMyShow could gain access to 100 million customers of Flipkart.

Alibaba is one of the largest players in the online ticketing space in China and wants to enter this space in India. Not only does it have the biggest stake in Paytm, but it has also acquired a majority stake in Chennai-based online ticketing platform TicketNew.

The movie ticketing market in India is expected to be around $2.5 billion, with 10-15% already being captured by largely BookMyShow.

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