Instamojo acquihires Bengaluru-based entertainment startup, Showman

Instamojo acquihires Bengaluru-based entertainment startup, Showman

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Thursday, April 22, 2021, 02:55 PM IST
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(l-r) Akash Gehani, Sampad Swain, Aditya Sengupta--co founders, Instamojo |

Instamojo, a full-stack solutions provider for MSMEs, has announced its first-ever acquihire of Bengaluru-based virtual theatre and vernacular content platform, Showman. The acquihire will see the on-boarding of the founding member team of Showman. Kshitij Bhatawdekar, Cofounder & CEO of Showman joins Instamojo as Product Manager, while Rutveez Roopam Rout, Cofounder & COO of Showman joins as User Research Manager.

Early last year, the company acquired GetMeAShop (GMAS), an e-commerce enablement firm backed by Times Internet, and closed its Pre-Series C round of funding later in 2020.

Akash Gehani, Co-founder and COO, Instamojo, said, “the Acquihire of Showman comes at a time when we as a company are evolving to move to the next level. We are happy to have both Kshitij and Rutveez join our team, bringing to Instamojo their expertise and knowledge in the product and consumer space, along with their entrepreneurial spirit. This acquihire will help Instamojo strengthen its product and tech prowess as we continue to innovate across multiple categories and achieve our vision of being the most trusted platform for MSMEs to start their business online.”

The Instamojo platform offers products and solutions that enable small businesses to achieve digital independency. Through the pandemic, the company introduced several products to address the small businesses that were grappling to survive, and recorded a 25 percent growth in merchant base, according to a release from the firm.

Kshitij Bhatawdekar Founder, Showman said, “As an entertainment-focused platform, we have deep insights into the users of India. When we spoke to Instamojo, we realized our insights can drive real impact for the MSME space of India. Both Rutveez and I are excited and looking forward to beginning this new phase of our journey with Instamojo.”

Founded in 2019, Showman operates a virtual theatre that enables users to buy movie tickets online and watch it from the comfort of their homes. The company recently clocked a compound monthly growth rate of 73.2 percent and has negotiated $30 million worth of movie contracts across Indian film industries.

Passion Connect, an HR Advisory Unit incubated by Blume Ventures, played a vital role in this acquihire. Led by Sanam Rawal, Passion Connect implements innovative hiring techniques to find the perfect employee-employer fit for their 110+ portfolio startups. The Acquihiring vertical, led by Swati Gupta is one such technique.

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