One of the most famous addresses in Bengaluru has just got a new tenant. Call it a coincidence or a calculated move by two companies backed by the same investor -- Flipkart's 50,000 sq ft space, the base of the e-ommerce giant's operations for over a decade has been taken over by Paytm Mall. Now, the latter will set up its base of operations for its marketplace.
This Bengaluru address was one of the first headquarters that Flipkart, the e-commerce company co-founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, had moved to after closing its first few major funding rounds. Thanks to Flipkart, the popularity of Koramangala in the commercial space market zoomed. It soon became one of the most sought-after locations for setting shop among start-ups and venture capital funds.
Flipkart has already moved almost all its office in Bengaluru to a new two million sq ft custom-built campus, at Cessna Business Park on Sarjapur Road. According to sources, it used to pay Rs 3.5-4 million a month for the old space, while Paytm Mall has bagged its lease for Rs 6 million a month.
One97 Communications, the holding company for Paytm Mall, and Flipkart are both backed by Japanese telecom major SoftBank Group. However, the two companies have no plans to join forces anytime soon.
With its new office, Paytm Mall plans to attract infotech talent in Bengaluru and give an impetus to its product development, customer service and other operations. The new office is spread across two floors in the Vaishnavi Summit area and will seat at least 700 professionals. It is expected to be fully operational by this month-end, extending the capacity from its existing offices in HSR Layout and Bannerghatta.
"Our new premises will complement our aggressive hiring plan for 2018 and help us attract talent across tech, product, business and design. This young and dynamic talent will play a critical role in our mission to build India's largest and most trusted mobile commerce platform," said Amit Sinha, operations head at Paytm Mall.
The aim is to take on its two biggest rivals -- Amazon India and Flipkart -- on their home turf. Both have leased huge office spaces in some of the costliest and most sought-after addresses in Bengaluru.
With a little over 65 million products, Paytm Mall claims to cater to customers across 19,000 pincodes. Its investors include Alibaba Group Holdings, Ant Financial and SAIF Partners.