Google-backed Glance buys Shop101 to expand into live e-commerce

Indian mobile content provider Glance InMobi Pte agreed to acquire e-commerce startup Shop101 to expand into influencer-led shopping in the South Asian country. Glance, which became a unicorn in December after backing from Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital, pushes curated news and entertainment content onto phone lock screens and also runs a short video app. It now plans to bring its content creators to work in tandem with Shop101’s commerce technology and supply chain infrastructure, the startup said on Monday. It didn’t disclose the deal’s value.

Glance is trying to replicate the success that China’s ByteDance Ltd. and Kuaishou Technology have had with influencer-led online commerce in their home market.