The Tata Group, which made its super-app ambitions public in August, is now reportedly in talks with investors for stakes in the digital platform, directly taking on Jio and the e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart. According to Bloomberg, it is looking at bringing in financial or strategic advisors, and Tata Sons is reportedly looking to bring its digital assets together and create a new entity.
In addition, it has been reported that the Walmart group is in talks with the Tata group for strategic investment in the business. “Tata group is in talks with Walmart for a deal entailing a strategic investment by Walmart in the super app platform business. The Walmart investment could touch $20-25 billion eventually for a large stake in the proposed super app to be hosted under a Tata Sons subsidiary," sources told Mint. This would be larger than the investment made by Walmart in Flipkart for a controlling stake, which was $16 billion.
A super app is a single application that offers a varied range of services from food, financial services, digital services, education, among others. Super apps as a concept are currently popular in Southeast Asian countries where apps such as Grab, GoJek and Meituan are widely used.
Tata Sons digital assets that could be merged are outlets such as Tata Cliq, Croma, Tanishq and Tata Sky.
Reports said that the app could leverage the synergies of Flipkart and Tata’s e-commerce business.
A source told Mint that this app could include Flipkart’s offerings from Walmart, as well as Tata’s retail products. “The super app may include Flipkart’s offerings from Walmart and the entire retail product franchise housed by the Tata group on one platform for retail customers. And on the other hand, Flipkart could get to be powered by Tata," the person told the newspaper.
This comes as Jio Platforms raised money from 13 investors, strengthening its digital play and is now raising money for Reliance Retail.
Tata's consumer businesses include watch and jewellery brand Titan and fashion retail chain Trent, under which Westside, Zudio and bookstore chain Landmark fall.
At the time Tata Sons N Chandrasekaran told Financial Times that the app would include food and grocery ordering, fashion, lifestyle, electronics and consumer durables, education, healthcare, bill payments, insurance and financial services.
Shares of Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Tata Steel gained more than 1% each after the news.