YouTube acquiring Indian online video commerce startup Simsim

YouTube will make no immediate changes to simsim and the app will continue to operate independently. The company said that it will work on ways to showcase simsim offers to its viewers.

YouTube has signed a definitive agreement to acquire simsim, an online video commerce startup based in India. With this acquisition, the Google-owned company aims to help local small businesses reach new customers and expand their presence online.

YouTube will make no immediate changes to simsim and the app will continue to operate independently. The company said that it will work on ways to showcase simsim offers to its viewers.

In a blog post on Tuesday, YouTube said, " For over 15 years, small businesses have used YouTube to expand their presence online -- and many of them use YouTube to reach customers outside of their local community, from Interior Designers to Silk Sarees sellers. By bringing simsim and YouTube together, our goal is to help small businesses and retailers in India reach new customers in even more powerful ways."

"We're inspired by the opportunity in India and look forward to working with the simsim team to build the future of online video commerce in India," Gautam Anand, VP, YouTube APAC, wrote in the blog post.

Simsim leverages the power of video and the creator community to help small businesses in India make transition to e-commerce. Retailers can reach buyers through video in their preferred language - English, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali. Buyers can browse through products while watching videos created by their favourite experts, influencers, and celebrities and also save the videos to watch them later.

"We started simsim with the mission of helping users across India shop online with ease, enabled through small sellers and brands showcasing and selling their products using the power of content by trusted influencers. Being a part of the YouTube and Google ecosystem furthers simsim in its mission. We can't wait to be part of YouTube and are excited to build simsim within the most admired tech company in the world," simsim cofounders, Amit Bagaria, Kunal Suri and Saurabh Vashishtha said in a joint statement.