Brands
ShopClues unveils express payout for merchants
MUMBAI: ShopClues, one of India’s first and largest managed marketplaces, has always been at the forefront of innovation for its merchants and has, in the past, launched an array of services to help enhance its merchants’ business online. Building on its merchant-focused portfolio, the platform has now launched the Express Payout service, which allows a merchant to get up to 80% of their pending payment in advance.
While ShopClues maintains regular payout cycles which are best-in-industry, merchants often need on-demand cash flow to ensure stock availability, manage payments and overheads etc. ShopClues’ Express Payout service aims to benefit any merchant who requires advance payment before the scheduled payment date. The merchants can choose to receive any amount up to 80% of their due payment with a small service charge. The requested payment is processed within eight hours by ShopClues.
The platform had recently also launched a range of financial services designed exclusively for its merchants. These services include the Reach PoS, a software mobile POS which facilitates hassle-free digital transactions for offline retailers; and Capital Wings, a loan program which facilitates quick and hassle-free loans to scale up their business. With the Express Payout option, ShopClues intends to create a complete financial services package that caters to the needs of varied merchants on the marketplace. The merchants can choose the services that they need to grow and enhance their business and also receive guidance from the ShopClues team.
Shopclues AVP – Seller Services Ganesh Balakrishnan said, “Shopclues’ goal is to provide a level-playing field for its half a million sellers, 80% of whom are MSMEs from Tier 2 and 3 cities and towns. A majority of the merchants on the platform sell unstructured and unbranded products, and usually are in need of regular cash flow to keep their business running.”
The Express Payout service was launched to a small group of merchants last month, wherein over 70% of the merchants chose to avail the service. It has since been launched for all merchants on the platform and in three weeks has catered to over 2000 payout requests.
Brands
UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
