Amazon Pay Acquires Tapzo Amid Battle In India’s Ecommerce And Payments Space

Morning Report: Amazon Pay has reportedly acquired Tapzo as big e-commerce battles for space in India’s growing consumer market.

Amazon Pay, the financial technology arm of Amazon, has acquired Tapzo, an India-based personal assistant platform, according to the Economic Times. Tapzo, which was founded in 2010, has raised $23.1 million, according to Crunchbase. Its investors included Sequoia Capital India, which just raised another fund, and American Express Ventures, among others.

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This is the latest move by Amazon to increase its foothold in the Indian payments and ecommerce market; however, it isn’t the only big tech company with its eyes set on the region’s wallet. Notably, Google has upped its interest in India. It has added new functions and services to its own mobile-payments platform Google Pay (formerly Tez) and is partnering with local banks, according to Forbes.

Meanwhile, China’s Tencent invested in Bengaluru-based ecommerce website Flipkart’s $1.4 billion round alongside Microsoft and eBay in April 2017 before it was acquired by Walmart for $16 billion in May 2018. Tencent maintained its stake in the company following the acquisition, according to the Economic Times.

China’s Alibaba is also interested in the region. The company is a main investor in one of the regions ecommerce platforms Paytm Mall, the ecommerce arm of payments company Paytm which is a direct competitor with Amazon Pay. Alibaba recently participated in Paytm Mall’s $445 million round from Softbank in June 2018. The company first invested in Paytm alongside Alibaba fintech affiliate Ant Financial in 2015. Alibaba and Ant Financial have past experience bringing mobile payments into the mainstream in China. Both companies are also making moves in neighboring Southeast Asia.

With so many deep-pocketed competitors placing bets in India, dominating the payments or ecommerce market will be no easy task for Amazon.

Illustration Credit: Li Anne Dias