YouTube has announced that the company signed an agreement to acquire India’s social commerce startup Simsim. The primary goal of this acquisition is to help small businesses and retailers in India reach new customers using YouTube.
Simsim app will continue to work as it used to. YouTube will now work to find out how it can showcase Simsim offers to YouTube viewers.
“As more and more shopping happens online, video has an important role in helping viewers discover new products and find expert advice they trust. Every day, people come to YouTube to compare products, watch reviews and find recommendations from their favorite creators. Today, we are taking another step to help viewers discover and buy products from local businesses,” said Gautam Anand, vice president, YouTube Asia Pacific, in a company blog.
Simsim was founded back in 201 and lets creators post video reviews about products from local businesses. Viewers can then buy those products directly through the Simsim app. Videos on Simsim are available in three regional languages including Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali.
Since its inception, Simsim has raised over $16 million in investments from Shunwei Capital, Accel, and Good Capital.
Simsim primarily competes against Meesho, BulBul, and Kiko TV. Flipkart also recently launched Shopsy in the social commerce space. As per reports, Indian social commerce platforms account for $1.5 billion – $2 billion in overall gross merchandise value. This number is expected to cross $20 billion by 2025 and $70 billion by 2030.
