Infibeam Avenues, a payments infrastructure firm, has acquired a majority 54% stake in Rediff.com for up to $3 million. This acquisition marks a significant turnaround for Rediff.com, a 28-year-old company that was the first Indian internet firm to be listed on NASDAQ in 2000.
Rediff.com, founded in 1996, gained prominence during the dot-com boom, becoming one of India’s leading web portals. It offered services such as email, news, and e-commerce, and at its peak, it was valued at over $600 million on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The company attracted significant web traffic, ranking as high as 12th in India according to brokerage firm Jefferies.
However, Rediff struggled to keep up with the rapidly changing digital landscape in the 2000s and 2010s. The rise of social media and specialized e-commerce platforms rendered Rediff’s broad portal model less competitive. Despite various diversification efforts, it could not maintain its position against more agile competitors, eventually leading to its delisting from NASDAQ.
Infibeam sees value in Rediff’s continued popularity, as the platform still garners over 55 million visits each month. The company plans to leverage this user base to promote financial products such as loans, insurance, and investment advisory services. Rediff reported $4 million in revenue for the financial year ending in March.
