Baidu, China’s largest Internet company, is reportedly in talks with Indian startups to make its first investment in India. This will be the third major investment by a gargantuan Chinese brand, the earlier one being Alibaba and Tencent.
As per the report from Economic Times, Baidu is currently in talks with MyDala, one of India’s largest discount marketing firm, to acquire a majority stake in the company for around $100 million.
The report suggests that MyDala is looking for the valuation of around $150 million to $200 million. Along with Baidu, Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad is also seeking to acquire a majority stake in the company.
Chinese Internet companies, which have been very active in the Indian startup ecosystem of late, are offering more than just the investment. They have emerged with technologies and business models which compete rather aggressively with global giants like Amazon and Google in their respective markets.
Baidu started its operations in India earlier this year and has an office in Gurgaon. The company recently launched its four mobile applications for the Android platform which has more than 45 million active users.
Currently, more than 45 percent of stake in MyDala is owned by Info Edge while the rest of it is owned by the founders of the company and early employees.
The company was founded in November 2009 by Anisha Singh, Ashish Bhatnagar and Arjun Base. Based in New Delhi, the company has employed more than 300 people.
Till now, the company has raised two rounds of funding. In the seed funding round, the company raised around Rs. 1.1 crore from a group of angel investors while in 2011, the company raised second funding round of $6 million from Info Edge (India) Ltd.
Apart from Baidu, Alibaba’s Ant Financial Services has invested heavily in India’s largest mobile commerce platform – PayTM while Tancent led $90 million funding round of Practo. Malaysia’s Khazanah, also participated in a Rs. 250 crore funding round of Zivame.
