Tata Power Acquires 51% Stake in Odisha's TPCODL for Rs 179 Cr

Tata Power on Monday said it has completed the acquisition of 51 per cent stake in TP Central Odisha Distribution Ltd (TPCODL) for Rs 178.5 crore.

TPCODL carries out the business of Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha (CESU). The acquisition paves the way for taking over the power supply business of five cities in Odisha by Tata Power.

"Tata Power has today acquired 51 per cent equity stake in TPCODL at a consideration of Rs 178.5 crore," a Tata Power statement said.

According to the statement, GRIDCO will hold the rest 49 per cent stake in TPCODL.

TPCODL was incorporated on April 6, 2020 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of GRIDCO to carry out the business of CESU.

Tata Power said it has taken over the management of CESU, after receiving the Letter of Intent from the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for the distribution and retail supply of electricity in Odisha's five circles consisting of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Paradeep and Dhenkanal.

As per an order issued by OERC on May 28, 2020, Tata Power will hold 51 per cent equity with management control and state-owned GRIDCO will have the remaining 49 per cent equity stake in the company.

Tata Power has committed to improving and modernising the distribution system in the five circles. The priority of the company is to improve reliability, reduce AT&C losses and offer excellent customer service.

As per the agreement, the company will retain all the existing employees of CESU and will govern them by their existing policy structure.

Tata Power will provide better opportunities and facilities to the employees to update their knowledge and skills along with an exposure to best practices and cutting edge technologies as part of the changed management in CESU.

“Our tie-up with CESU is a huge development for Tata Power. We are committed to provide reliable, affordable and quality power supply along with superior customer service, backed by innovative technology. The success of our Delhi, Mumbai and Ajmer distribution businesses are testament to this fact,” Tata Power CEO & MD Praveer Sinha said.

Sanjay Banga, President - T &D, Tata Power said the company endeavours to bring about a positive transformation in Odisha by deploying smart grid technologies to supply reliable and quality power.

"Our customer-centric approach aims to enhance all aspects of customer services with smooth and efficient power distribution operations,” he added.

Japan's Electro-Mechanical Giant Shinryo Corp Acquires Indian HVAC Company Suvidha Engineers

Noida headquartered Suvidha Engineers India Private Limited (Suvidha), a company incorporated in 1983 under Indian companies’ act has agreed to an acquisition by Shinryo Corporation (Shinryo), a leading company in HVAC/MEP Installation/ Engineering from Japan founded in 1956, in the form of 100% company share transfer by all the shareholders, announced the company in a press release to IndianWeb2.com. HVAC, short for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning, is the technology of indoor and vehicular environmental comfort.

The acquisition deal has been concluded and signed recently. Suvidha officially became part of Shinryo Group, JAPAN as of 1st October 2018. Accordingly, it changes its name to Shinryo Suvidha Engineers India Private Limited (Shinryo Suvidha).

Shinryo,’s revenue stood at 241,100 million Yen or Rs. 15,000 crores with 5100 plus employees worldwide at the end of September 2017, with operations across Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Middle East.

With the synergies of the Shinryo Group with a large footprint and a strong track record globally, along with the inherited brand of SUVIDHA, which has built a reputation for itself in India over the last 35 years, the new company shall aim to undertake large scale engineering and infrastructure projects, leveraging its proven expertise to avail opportunities provided by India’s dynamic economic development.

Mr. Takeshi Kagami, President, and Mr. Yasunori Inoue, Representative of India Liaison Office, Shinryo Corporation, appointed as Joint Management Director at Shinryo Suvidha, said, “We believe the newly merged company presents a good example of the growing India - Japan ties, which will contribute to India’s growth through development of infrastructure, support to the ‘Make in India’ initiative and CSR activities in relevant fields.”

Mr. Suresh Virmani, Board Chairman, Mr. Ashok Virmani, Managing Director, Suvidha said, “In a first in the area of Electro-Mechanical engineering, the newly formed Indian International Corporation would be well positioned to bring fresh insights and excellence to large scale infrastructure projects in India, bringing them at par with projects being executed in developed countries.”

Japan's Electro-Mechanical Giant Shinryo Corp Acquires Indian HVAC Company Suvidha Engineers

Noida headquartered Suvidha Engineers India Private Limited (Suvidha), a company incorporated in 1983 under Indian companies’ act has agreed to an acquisition by Shinryo Corporation (Shinryo), a leading company in HVAC/MEP Installation/ Engineering from Japan founded in 1956, in the form of 100% company share transfer by all the shareholders, announced the company in a press release to www.indianweb2.com. HVAC, short for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning, is the technology of indoor and vehicular environmental comfort.

The acquisition deal has been concluded and signed recently. Suvidha officially became part of Shinryo Group, JAPAN as of 1st October 2018. Accordingly, it changes its name to Shinryo Suvidha Engineers India Private Limited (Shinryo Suvidha).

Shinryo,’s revenue stood at 241,100 million Yen or Rs. 15,000 crores with 5100 plus employees worldwide at the end of September 2017, with operations across Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Middle East.

With the synergies of the Shinryo Group with a large footprint and a strong track record globally, along with the inherited brand of SUVIDHA, which has built a reputation for itself in India over the last 35 years, the new company shall aim to undertake large scale engineering and infrastructure projects, leveraging its proven expertise to avail opportunities provided by India’s dynamic economic development.

Mr. Takeshi Kagami, President, and Mr. Yasunori Inoue, Representative of India Liaison Office, Shinryo Corporation, appointed as Joint Management Director at Shinryo Suvidha, said, “We believe the newly merged company presents a good example of the growing India - Japan ties, which will contribute to India’s growth through development of infrastructure, support to the ‘Make in India’ initiative and CSR activities in relevant fields.”

Mr. Suresh Virmani, Board Chairman, Mr. Ashok Virmani, Managing Director, Suvidha said, “In a first in the area of Electro-Mechanical engineering, the newly formed Indian International Corporation would be well positioned to bring fresh insights and excellence to large scale infrastructure projects in India, bringing them at par with projects being executed in developed countries.”

Swiggy Acquires Bangalore-based Food Startup 48East

Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has acquired Bangalore based food startup 48East.

Founded in 2016 by hospitality industry veterans Joseph Cherian and Nabhojit Ghosh, 48East offers exotic delicacies from 48 different countries across the Asian continent.

Post acquisition, Cherian and Ghosh will join Swiggy as part of the deal.

In February 2017, the startup had raised USD 500K in Pre Series A funding from Al Dhaheri Family based in UAE. Prior to that, in August 2016, it had raised 250K USD in a round of angel funding from Agra based ACPL exports.

"As COO of Swiggy's New Supply business line, Cherian’s expertise in the food infrastructure space will further strengthen company's focus on solving for gaps in consumer supply through various strategic initiatives. This includes the recently launched Swiggy Access, where the company brings a variety of food to consumers by enabling plug-and-play expansion for restaurant partners in different areas," Swiggy said in a statement.

Talking about the acqui-hires, Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy said, “With their deep understanding of the food space and an impressive track record of delivering a great consumer experience, the 48East team will equip Swiggy with additional capabilities. We are excited to work with them towards our vision of changing the way India eats.”

Founded in 2015, Swiggy has raised close to USD 156 million from investors such as Accel, Innoven and SAIF Partners.

Moreover, according to a report by Economic Times, Swiggy is also said to be raising about $200-250 million from Softbank.

Swiggy Acquires Bangalore-based Food Startup 48East

Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has acquired Bangalore based food startup 48East.

Founded in 2016 by hospitality industry veterans Joseph Cherian and Nabhojit Ghosh, 48East offers exotic delicacies from 48 different countries across the Asian continent.

Post acquisition, Cherian and Ghosh will join Swiggy as part of the deal.

In February 2017, the startup had raised USD 500K in Pre Series A funding from Al Dhaheri Family based in UAE. Prior to that, in August 2016, it had raised 250K USD in a round of angel funding from Agra based ACPL exports.

"As COO of Swiggy's New Supply business line, Cherian’s expertise in the food infrastructure space will further strengthen company's focus on solving for gaps in consumer supply through various strategic initiatives. This includes the recently launched Swiggy Access, where the company brings a variety of food to consumers by enabling plug-and-play expansion for restaurant partners in different areas," Swiggy said in a statement.

Talking about the acqui-hires, Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy said, “With their deep understanding of the food space and an impressive track record of delivering a great consumer experience, the 48East team will equip Swiggy with additional capabilities. We are excited to work with them towards our vision of changing the way India eats.”

Founded in 2015, Swiggy has raised close to USD 156 million from investors such as Accel, Innoven and SAIF Partners.

Moreover, according to a report by Economic Times, Swiggy is also said to be raising about $200-250 million from Softbank.

itelligence Acquires Hyderabad-based vCentric Technologies to Expand Its Offerings throughout India

As part of its ongoing strategy of growth in India, itelligence India Software Solutions Private Limited, (“itelligence India”) – announced today that it has acquired 100% of vCentric Technologies Private Limited (“vCentric”), a reseller of SAP software and premium SAP services provider based in Hyderabad.

Norbert Rotter, CEO of itelligence said: “The acquisition of vCentric is the first step for our strategic expansion into the growing local Indian IT market. With more than 1,300 employees, we are now one of the leading SAP Partners in the subcontinent.”

This acquisition will help itelligence to expand its offerings throughout India to serve local and international customers even more effectively and efficiently for the upcoming tasks of digitalization.

Sanjeev Deshpande, MD itelligence India said: “The acquisition of vCentric allows us to offer services across different geographies in India and different segments. itelligence will continue its industry focus to deliver the quality and best fit solutions to its customers.”

"We are very excited to be part of the itelligence family and together we will grow and serve our customer base in India and the subcontinent with best in class solutions and services offerings,” said Venugopal Uppalapati, past Chairman of vCentric, who is now a member of the executive management team of itelligence India.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the transaction amount.

VCentric is SAP Gold Partner having provided services to 250+ customers across India into various industries. VCentric is not only the fastest growing SAP partner but also a pioneer in adopting & implementing the latest SAP technologies.

Ed-Tech Venture NeoStencil Acquires TestCafe to Boost Analytics-Based Testing Capabilities

In an acquisition to establish itself further as a market leader in the test prep segment, NeoStencil, India’s live-learning platform for competitive exams, has acquired TestCafe – an analytics-based test practice portal. The acquisition will improve NeoStencil’s testing capabilities and enhance the way in which competitive exams participants practice and check their preparedness.

NeoStencil enables competitive exam aspirants and India’s top teachers and institutes to come together on a single, convenient and affordable platform for exam preparation. In the recently announced UPSC 2016 exam results, more than 500 of the 1099 elected candidates, including 43 of the top 100, were trained by NeoStencil’s partner institutes, and around 100 of them chose to prepare via online classes at NeoStencil. With this acquisition, NeoStencil is poised to become the ultimate podium to help students master test-taking skills.

Students that enrol with NeoStencil can access the study content and live online classes anywhere at any time at their convenience, besides yearly notifications to exam results, mock tests, comprehensive study material in both hard and soft copy, and personalised feedback. The company has been an industry leader in connecting best-in-industry coaching classes with students across the country who cannot relocate to coaching hubs such as Delhi and Bangalore. For gaining expertise in answering tests, NeoStencil provides highly educative test series besides regular courses and study materials.

TestCafe’s platform tracks and analyses students’ performance, and generates actionable recommendations to enable students to rapidly improve performance. Post the acquisition, TestCafe’s analytics engine will transition into a robust backbone for NeoStencil to handle students’ testing needs. TestCafe would help students build accuracy, increase speed, and enhance concentration.

Anish Passi, founder of TestCafe, saw a natural fit in merging with NeoStencil. “The synergies and the potential offered make complete sense. The platform was built in a manner to work across exams. So, the vast potential offered by NeoStencil really excites me.” With the acquisition, Passi joins in as a Director at NeoStencil.

Commenting on the acquisition, NeoStencil Co-founder, Kush Beejal said, “TestCafe’s analytics-based testing has shown tremendous results so far, and is the perfect complement to our online coaching platform. Combining the two will help our students prepare better and faster, and make their preparation outcome-driven. It’s a perfect fit.”

Added Anish Passi, Director, “We’ve always aimed to make the process of exam preparation as hassle-free as possible. This move will help both our students understand their strengths and weaknesses better, and see rapid improvements in their performance.”

Image: Kush Beejal - Co-founder (NeoStencil), and Anish Passi - Founder (TestCafe)

ItzCash's Parent Ebix Making Its Third Acquisition, Buys Paul Merchants International Remittance Biz for$40.7M

Ebix, Inc., a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, e-governance and healthcare industries, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) Business of Paul Merchants Limited also referred to as PML or Paul Merchants hereinafter, for $40.7 million approx. through its Indian affiliate. Paul Merchants Inward Remittance Exchange Encompasses 20,000+ Distribution Outlets, 165+ Branches, Processing over 6 Million Transactions Per Annum.

The agreement while approved by the Paul Merchants Board, is subject to its shareholders and/or other regulatory/commercial approvals. The customary process for such approval can take a timeline of 45 to 60 days. As a part of the Transaction, Paul Merchants will also take a 10% stake in Ebix’s combined international remittance business entity in India for cash consideration.

The acquisition once approved, is expected to be accretive to Ebix earnings immediately. The Company funded the transaction using its internal cash reserves. Ebix did not use any investment bankers for the transaction.

With a market share of almost 35% percent of Western Union's inward remittance flows in India, Paul Merchants is the largest international remittance player in India. This is Ebix’s third remittance related acquisition over the last 45 days, following the announcement of the acquisition of YouFirst Money Express Private Limited and the asset purchase of Wall Street Finance Limited. Ebix intends to consolidate both these acquisitions into its Financial Exchange operations bringing significant synergies and redundancies to the combined operation.

The acquisition of the MTSS Business, which controls the largest share of the market, would further strengthen Ebix’s position in the Financial Exchange market in India, following its acquisition of ItzCash in May 2017. The addition of this international capability significantly expands upon Ebix’s overall participation in India’s remittance channels, and will allow Ebix’s financial exchange to remit money sent from abroad through Western Union, Ria, Moneygram or Express Money.

With 75,000+physical retail outlets for ItzCash’s financial exchange, the three MTSS business acquisitions increase that distribution reach substantially to over 114,000 outlets across the country. Ebix’s ItzCash service is already the largest domestic remittance exchange in India with domestic remittance volume of approximately $100 million per month.

Ebix’s ItzCash exchange is a recognized leader in prepaid cards, domestic remittances and bill payments, processing approximately 600,000 transactions per day and approximately $2 Billion in annual payment volume.

Paul Merchants Limited Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Sat Paul Bansal said, “I am excited to have Paul Merchants team up with Ebix, in its efforts to streamline the inward remittance exchange business in India. Ebix has a track record of deploying and successfully running exchanges across the world. I am a firm believer in Ebix’s efforts to drive efficiency through technology and consolidation, as also bring better value to the end consumer.”

Ebix Chairman, President and CEO Robin Raina said, “Paul Merchants has led the Indian markets in the international remittance exchange business. Under the leadership of Mr. Paul, they have backed their steadfast vision with strong fundamentals, rock solid financials, vast & loyal distribution base and high levels of commitment to their customers. I am pleased to say that Mr. Sat Paul Bansal, the founding CMD of Paul Merchants has graciously agreed to serve as the Chairman of the Board of our combined remittance company, to ensure that the combined MTSS company continues to deliver high standards of customer service and growth.”

Robin also said, “I believe that the combination of Paul Merchant’s MTSS Business into our two other MTSSS acquisitions will place in a very strong position to implement our vision related to Financial Exchanges in India.”

In May 2017, Ebix, Inc., had invested approximately Rs. 800 crores in acquiring a 80% stake in India’s Leading payment solutions Exchange ItzCash.

Image Source: ShutterStock

ItzCash's Parent Ebix Making Its Third Acquisition, Buys Paul Merchants International Remittance Biz for$40.7M

Ebix, Inc., a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, e-governance and healthcare industries, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) Business of Paul Merchants Limited also referred to as PML or Paul Merchants hereinafter, for $40.7 million approx. through its Indian affiliate. Paul Merchants Inward Remittance Exchange Encompasses 20,000+ Distribution Outlets, 165+ Branches, Processing over 6 Million Transactions Per Annum.

The agreement while approved by the Paul Merchants Board, is subject to its shareholders and/or other regulatory/commercial approvals. The customary process for such approval can take a timeline of 45 to 60 days. As a part of the Transaction, Paul Merchants will also take a 10% stake in Ebix’s combined international remittance business entity in India for cash consideration.

The acquisition once approved, is expected to be accretive to Ebix earnings immediately. The Company funded the transaction using its internal cash reserves. Ebix did not use any investment bankers for the transaction.

With a market share of almost 35% percent of Western Union's inward remittance flows in India, Paul Merchants is the largest international remittance player in India. This is Ebix’s third remittance related acquisition over the last 45 days, following the announcement of the acquisition of YouFirst Money Express Private Limited and the asset purchase of Wall Street Finance Limited. Ebix intends to consolidate both these acquisitions into its Financial Exchange operations bringing significant synergies and redundancies to the combined operation.

The acquisition of the MTSS Business, which controls the largest share of the market, would further strengthen Ebix’s position in the Financial Exchange market in India, following its acquisition of ItzCash in May 2017. The addition of this international capability significantly expands upon Ebix’s overall participation in India’s remittance channels, and will allow Ebix’s financial exchange to remit money sent from abroad through Western Union, Ria, Moneygram or Express Money.

With 75,000+physical retail outlets for ItzCash’s financial exchange, the three MTSS business acquisitions increase that distribution reach substantially to over 114,000 outlets across the country. Ebix’s ItzCash service is already the largest domestic remittance exchange in India with domestic remittance volume of approximately $100 million per month.

Ebix’s ItzCash exchange is a recognized leader in prepaid cards, domestic remittances and bill payments, processing approximately 600,000 transactions per day and approximately $2 Billion in annual payment volume.

Paul Merchants Limited Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Sat Paul Bansal said, “I am excited to have Paul Merchants team up with Ebix, in its efforts to streamline the inward remittance exchange business in India. Ebix has a track record of deploying and successfully running exchanges across the world. I am a firm believer in Ebix’s efforts to drive efficiency through technology and consolidation, as also bring better value to the end consumer.”

Ebix Chairman, President and CEO Robin Raina said, “Paul Merchants has led the Indian markets in the international remittance exchange business. Under the leadership of Mr. Paul, they have backed their steadfast vision with strong fundamentals, rock solid financials, vast & loyal distribution base and high levels of commitment to their customers. I am pleased to say that Mr. Sat Paul Bansal, the founding CMD of Paul Merchants has graciously agreed to serve as the Chairman of the Board of our combined remittance company, to ensure that the combined MTSS company continues to deliver high standards of customer service and growth.”

Robin also said, “I believe that the combination of Paul Merchant’s MTSS Business into our two other MTSSS acquisitions will place in a very strong position to implement our vision related to Financial Exchanges in India.”

In May 2017, Ebix, Inc., had invested approximately Rs. 800 crores in acquiring a 80% stake in India’s Leading payment solutions Exchange ItzCash.

Image Source: ShutterStock

Paytm in Talks to Acquire Travel Company Via.com For an Amount up to $80M

Digital payments company Paytm has entered into discussions to acquire online travel company Via.com which could potentially be valued at up to $80 million for the sale, as reported by ET. This acquisition will help Paytm to grow its travel and hospitality business, to compete against established firms such as the Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip and Yatra.

Paytm, which raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank in May, was recently in advanced discussions to acquire deals platforms Nearby and Little.

The Noida-headquartered company, Paytm's travel business crossed annualised gross merchandise volume (GMV), or gross sales, of $500 million in January, driven by bookings of two million tickets that month. The company has projected annualised GMV of $2 billion for its travel business by March.

Bengaluru-based Via.com (formerly known as FlightRaja) was founded in 2007. It is backed by venture capital investors including IndoUS Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital, has raised about $15 million in funding. Via.com has 100,000 active travel partners across 2,600 towns and cities, and covers more than 13,000 pin codes across Asia.

Paytm which has been in hyper-expansion mode in the last 12 months, counts Chinese ecommerce behemoth Alibaba Group and affiliates as well as SAIF Partners among its backers. Paytm E-commerce business, Paytm Mall had also initiated discussions to pick up a stake in online grocer BigBasket. According to media report, BigBasket has raised whopping $280 million in Series-E round led by Paytm Mall and China’s Alibaba Group recently.

Image Source: ShutterStock

Paytm in Talks to Acquire Travel Company Via.com For an Amount up to $80M

Digital payments company Paytm has entered into discussions to acquire online travel company Via.com which could potentially be valued at up to $80 million for the sale, as reported by ET. This acquisition will help Paytm to grow its travel and hospitality business, to compete against established firms such as the Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip and Yatra.

Paytm, which raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank in May, was recently in advanced discussions to acquire deals platforms Nearby and Little.

The Noida-headquartered company, Paytm's travel business crossed annualised gross merchandise volume (GMV), or gross sales, of $500 million in January, driven by bookings of two million tickets that month. The company has projected annualised GMV of $2 billion for its travel business by March.

Bengaluru-based Via.com (formerly known as FlightRaja) was founded in 2007. It is backed by venture capital investors including IndoUS Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital, has raised about $15 million in funding. Via.com has 100,000 active travel partners across 2,600 towns and cities, and covers more than 13,000 pin codes across Asia.

Paytm which has been in hyper-expansion mode in the last 12 months, counts Chinese ecommerce behemoth Alibaba Group and affiliates as well as SAIF Partners among its backers. Paytm E-commerce business, Paytm Mall had also initiated discussions to pick up a stake in online grocer BigBasket. According to media report, BigBasket has raised whopping $280 million in Series-E round led by Paytm Mall and China’s Alibaba Group recently.

Image Source: ShutterStock

HCL Acquires UK Based ETL Factory Limited to Help Clients Accelerate Data Integration and Migration

HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global IT services company, has agreed to buy ETL Factory Limited, doing business as Datawave, a UK–based company that has created an innovative data automation platform which enables enterprise customers execute large scale, complex data–migration and data–integration projects in a leaner, faster and smarter way. The flagship product Datawave, won the Informatica Innovation Award and is also extendable to other platforms, including big data.

“The acquisition of Datawave and its suite of products bolsters HCL’s capabilities to collaborate with clients on their mission–critical data transformation projects, incorporating a culture of DevOps and continuous integration,” said Rahul Singh, President and Head – Financial Services, HCL Technologies. “Datawave also brings in significant banking industry expertise.”

“In a recent market study done by HCL, 81% of organizations said they were overwhelmed with the volume and variety of data needed to drive digital transformation. Datawave’s automation solutions will significantly help our clients accelerate their digital journey through a robust data architecture,” said Anand Birje, Corporate Vice President and Head – Digital & Analytics, HCL Technologies.

“The synergies between Datawave’s customer-centric, enterprise data integration platform and HCL’s technology leadership and deep engineering capabilities will deliver unparalleled value to our clients,” said Mark Butterworth, CEO, Datawave.

Datawave is a leading provider of data migration and integration solutions, focused on automation and digital transformation around Informatica and other similar enterprise data management stacks. The product suite accelerates the end-to-end rollout of data integration builds, allowing enterprises to implement rapid, agile data integration projects in a transformative manner. Datawave’s automated delivery software and related-services guarantee code quality and consistency, ensuring massive reduction in development time, testing and costs, as well as huge productivity gains.

Datawave’s next generation Automation solution has been extensively proven at a Tier 1 global bank enabling an impressive 80% reduction in data transformation effort and timeline thereby saving millions of dollars in both project and on-going capex costs.

Image Source: ShutterStockiistion

PayTM In Talks To Buy Bengaluru Based Deal Discovery App ‘Little’

According to two sources familiar with the deal, Paytm is in talks to acquire Little Internet, which runs the deal discovery app Little. As per the ET report, the key reason for this acquisition is that Paytm wants to expand its online-to-offline (O2O) reach.

Earlier in 2015, PayTM had put in a $50 million funding in the Little App along with SAIF Partners and Tiger Global Management. Later on, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC also invested in the startup.  The Little app is founded in 2015 by Manish Chopra and Satish Mani. It is a consumer lifestyle deals marketplace from the burgeoning O2O market.

Since its launch, Little Internet has made two acquisitions which include Chandigarh-based curated deals marketplace Trideal and Stylofie, a curated platform for offers on salons and spas. Recently in May 2017, Hyperlocal deal discovery site had announced the launch of its operations in three new cities – Kochi, Bhubaneswar, and Nagpur.

In order to further tap into the online ticketing sector, Paytm had recently acquired a majority stake in online ticketing and events platform Insider.in.

With the current user base of more than 225 million, Paytm is on a mission to bring half a billion Indians to the mainstream of the economy using mobile payment, commerce and recently launched Payment Bank.

Paytm is founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and is the Consumer brand of India’s leading mobile internet company One97 Communications. Headquartered in the National Capital Region, India, the company’s investors include Ant Financial (Alipay), Alibaba Group, SoftBank, SAIF Partners and Mediatek.

Mobility Solutions Provider Mahindra Comviva Signs an Agreement to Acquire Emagine International

Mahindra Comviva, a global leader in mobility solutions, has signed an agreement to acquire Emagine International for an undisclosed value. Emagine International is a specialist provider of real-time, contextual marketing solutions and managed business intelligence services.

Customer Value Management represents an unprecedented opportunity for business value creation. Acquisition of Emagine significantly enhances Comviva’s strengths and in addition to the technology and solution capabilities of both companies, matured managed marketing services will further enable Comviva to deliver enhanced customer value. Emagine’s acquisition will strengthen Comviva’s in-region capabilities to deliver end-to-end solutions to customers. It also adds a number of impressive customers, including Optus, 9 Mobile (formerly Etisalat Nigeria), Virgin Mobile, Vodacom and Vodafone Australia to Comviva’s portfolio.

Comviva also announced the appointment of David Peters, chief executive officer, Emagine International and Amit Sanyal, business head, customer value management practice, Comviva, as the executive heads of the combined business.

Commenting on this, Manoranjan ‘Mao’ Mohapatra, CEO, Mahindra Comviva said, “We are delighted to join hands with Emagine as it will greatly enhance our ability to capitalize on the exploding demand for consumer analytics solutions. Comviva is focused on ensuring a leadership position in this space. With this, we are well positioned to deliver accelerated revenue growth to all our stakeholders.”

Speaking on the occasion, David Peters, CEO, Emagine International said, "We’re confident that the combined strengths, services expertise, and talent of our companies will bring greater end-to-end capabilities of products and services for telecom operators, delivering greater value to all our existing customers globally, and opportunities for accelerated growth.”

Founded in 1998 Emagine International is a leading provider of real-time contextual marketing software and managed marketing services for communication service providers. Emagine enables global telecom operators to reduce churn and generate net incremental revenue from their customers. This is achieved through intelligent real-time campaigns and interactions that are personal, relevant and timely - true "Marketing To One®". Emagine has developed a game-changing decisioning platform called RED.cloud (Real-time Event Decisioning). It is an advanced, real-time decisioning platform, which enables operators to capture a customer’s attention and move them to action in micro-moments. This, in turn, is expected to maximize both customer experience and incremental revenue.

Image: David Peters, CEO, Emagine International

1mg Acquires Dawailelo to Strengthen Pharmacy Operations

1mg, India’s largest digital health platform, has announced that it has acquired Dawailelo.com, a technology-based facilitator in the healthcare space that helps individuals buy medicines, consult with doctors and get lab tests done.

“We are very keen on building a pan India presence rapidly. The team at Dawailelo has done a great job understanding the requirements of the customers and has created a unique model that has shown great promise for Tier II and III cities,” said Prashant Tandon, CEO, 1mg.

The team would be working with the 1mg ePharmacy team, reporting to COO Tanmay Saksena.

“With Dawailelo team on board, in the coming months we would expand our footprint to cover most parts of India”, said Tanmay.

Dawailelo was co-founded by duo- Aditya Agrawal (CEO) and Arpit Sarin (COO) in 2013. Agrawal has an MBA in marketing from Banaras Hindu University and co-founder Arpit Sarin has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

According to Aditya, “We're looking forward to working with the 1mg team and establish an efficient and stable digital healthcare channel in the Tier II & Tier III towns of the country.” Arpit added, “It's a good time to work in collaboration with the 1mg team and consolidate our efforts towards the common goal of delivering best healthcare services to the people.”

1mg launched in 2015 and is India’s premier digital health platform with over 10 million app downloads. It is the trusted health partner for all Indians and its mission is to make healthcare accessible, understandable and affordable for a billion Indians. It enables consumers to learn more about their medicines and also find more cost-effective substitutes. Its diagnostics service brings transparency and price-effectiveness to lab tests. 1mg’s doctor platform aims to revolutionize how a consumer finds the right healthcare professional for his needs. 1mg is an initiative taken in the spirit of public service with a vision to empower Indian consumers and caregivers to select the most appropriate healthcare service at the best possible price.

In July 2017, 1mg closed a financing round of ~$15M, led by HBM Healthcare Investments with participation from other existing investors Maverick, Sequoia India, Omidyar & Kae Capital. The company had previously raised funding from Maverick Capital Ventures, HBM Healthcare Investments, Sequoia Capital India, Omidyar Network, Kae Capital etc.

Image : Prashant Tandon, CEO 1mg

1mg Acquires Dawailelo to Strengthen Pharmacy Operations

1mg, India’s largest digital health platform, has announced that it has acquired Dawailelo.com, a technology-based facilitator in the healthcare space that helps individuals buy medicines, consult with doctors and get lab tests done.

“We are very keen on building a pan India presence rapidly. The team at Dawailelo has done a great job understanding the requirements of the customers and has created a unique model that has shown great promise for Tier II and III cities,” said Prashant Tandon, CEO, 1mg.

The team would be working with the 1mg ePharmacy team, reporting to COO Tanmay Saksena.

“With Dawailelo team on board, in the coming months we would expand our footprint to cover most parts of India”, said Tanmay.

Dawailelo was co-founded by duo- Aditya Agrawal (CEO) and Arpit Sarin (COO) in 2013. Agrawal has an MBA in marketing from Banaras Hindu University and co-founder Arpit Sarin has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

According to Aditya, “We're looking forward to working with the 1mg team and establish an efficient and stable digital healthcare channel in the Tier II & Tier III towns of the country.” Arpit added, “It's a good time to work in collaboration with the 1mg team and consolidate our efforts towards the common goal of delivering best healthcare services to the people.”

1mg launched in 2015 and is India’s premier digital health platform with over 10 million app downloads. It is the trusted health partner for all Indians and its mission is to make healthcare accessible, understandable and affordable for a billion Indians. It enables consumers to learn more about their medicines and also find more cost-effective substitutes. Its diagnostics service brings transparency and price-effectiveness to lab tests. 1mg’s doctor platform aims to revolutionize how a consumer finds the right healthcare professional for his needs. 1mg is an initiative taken in the spirit of public service with a vision to empower Indian consumers and caregivers to select the most appropriate healthcare service at the best possible price.

In July 2017, 1mg closed a financing round of ~$15M, led by HBM Healthcare Investments with participation from other existing investors Maverick, Sequoia India, Omidyar & Kae Capital. The company had previously raised funding from Maverick Capital Ventures, HBM Healthcare Investments, Sequoia Capital India, Omidyar Network, Kae Capital etc.

Image : Prashant Tandon, CEO 1mg

Narvar Acquires Logistics Service Provider GoPigeon for APAC Expansion

Narvar, the post-purchase experience leader, today announced it has acquired key technology and personnel from GoPigeon, an end-to-end logistics management SaaS platform based in Bengaluru, India. This acquisition advances Narvar’s platform development with additional engineering talent and furthers the company’s position as the market leader which powers two billion experiences for more than 125 million consumers per year after they click buy. It also scales Narvar’s global growth, with the GoPigeon India team anchoring the fast growing Asia-Pacific ecommerce market and enabling worldwide operations support.

“At Narvar, we want to simplify the lives of consumers, regardless of where they live,” said Amit Sharma, Founder & CEO of Narvar. “Having grown our business in North America, we are now well-positioned to scale our platform to international markets. Bringing on GoPigeon allows us to realize this vision more quickly and respond to the growing demand from current clients and prospects to bring great post-purchase experiences to their customers worldwide.”

In the last 12 months Narvar has experienced significant growth, tripling its revenue and adding more than 100 new customers in 2017 including Amway, Chandon, The RealReal and TUMI. Narvar now serves a client base of more than 400 brands and retailers, including 40 of Internet Retailer’s Top 100. This growth is being driven in part by Narvar’s investment in product development, notably targeted at emerging consumer channels including AI-powered chatbots. Narvar powers bots on Facebook Messenger for 370 retailers, which have facilitated 3.8 million incremental brand interactions within months of launch.

With this acquisition, Narvar adds the strength of GoPigeon’s engineering team to scale more quickly and accelerate its machine learning capabilities. GoPigeon recently launched Intelligent Courier Allocation (ICA), an artificial intelligence system that helps retailers optimize how they use their carrier networks based on customer needs in a given scenario.In parallel, Nexus Venture Partners, an investor in GoPigeon has become a shareholder of Narvar.

“The GoPigeon team is joining Narvar at a pivotal point in the maturation of the post-purchase category they created,” said Deovrat Singh, Co-founder and CEO of GoPigeon. “Together, we will empower retailers to give consumers the experiences they crave after they click buy.”

According to a recent report, 91 percent of retailers agree that engaging customers after they make a purchase improves brand perception, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. Powered by insights from billions of interactions, Narvar makes it effortless for retailers to provide immersive and emotional experiences to customers after they make a purchase. Narvar’s acquisition will further cement its leadership in the customer experience category.

“Through the GoPigeon platform, we've seen first-hand the value of the post-purchase experience as a driver of customer loyalty,” said Kashyap Mehta, Head of Product and Strategic Initiatives at Tata CLiQ. “As GoPigeon joins Narvar, we're eager to see the potential they unlock for enhancing customer relationships across the world.”

Freshworks Makes Its Ninth Acquisition, Buys Marketing Software Provider Zarget

Freshworks, the leading provider of cloud-based business software, today announced the acquisition of Zarget, a leading marketing software startup that provides marketers and designers with a suite of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) tools helping them understand how users interact with their websites. This is the ninth acquisition made by Freshworks over the last two years and will help the company focus on building marketing solutions for businesses of all sizes. In July 2017, Freshworks acquired Gurgaon-based Joe Hukum, a platform that helps businesses build their own chatbots. 

Zarget’s robust CRO tools help businesses increase orders, customer interactions and signups on their website by providing user metrics and data driven insights. Marketers can take informed decisions based on the insights gained through A/B Testing, Heatmaps, Session Recording, Polls & Feedback and much more. Through this acquisition, Freshworks seeks to further develop Zarget’s marketing suite and provide the team with expertise, technology and operations as well as access to over 120,000 customers.

“At Freshworks, our ambition is to emerge as the de facto cloud-based business software platform for businesses of all sizes,” said Girish Mathrubootham, CEO & Founder of Freshworks. “A growing number of our customers have been asking us to help them in their marketing initiatives. Today, our software powers customer engagement across every aspect of the customer journey, from customer acquisition to customer support. Acquiring Zarget will enable Freshworks to support customers with the pre-acquisition journey as well and truly transform the way our customers attract and engage with their prospective customers. Also, I have known the Zarget team for many years and I am personally thrilled to have them join the Freshworks family and power our expansion into the marketing software category.”

According to Gartner, marketing leaders allocate 27% of their expense budget to technology, equal to 3.24% of overall revenue, compared with CIO technology spend of 3.4% of revenue. Gartner also predicts that CMOs will spend more on technology than CIOs by end of 2017, further underlining the opportunity for marketing software and technology vendors.

“We are excited to join Freshworks and it's an incredible honor to be part of a company that has been our role model in many ways. We built Zarget to help marketers make informed decisions on their online properties without the need for deep technical resources or large budgets. Together with Freshworks, we expect to accelerate the digital marketing evolution and help our customers further transform the way they market with combined expertise and solutions,” said Arvind Parthiban, CEO and Co-founder of Zarget.

Zarget was founded in 2015 by Arvind Parthiban, Naveen Venkat and Santosh Kumar with an angel investment from Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham and some of the early Freshdesk employees who were friends of the Zarget founders. Over the next two years, Zarget went on to raise $7.5M in 2 rounds of funding from Accel Partners, Matrix Partners India and Sequoia Capital India. As part of the deal, the angel investors received only their initial investments back without any additional financial returns to avoid any conflict of interest.

For Zarget customers, there will be no impact on their services and Freshworks will continue to support them. Freshworks had announced the acquisition of Joe Hukum last month and with the addition of Zarget, the company continues to focus on building a refreshing suite of SaaS products following its rebrand from Freshdesk earlier this year.

Image: Girish Mathrubootham, CEO & Founder of Freshworks

Freshworks Makes Its Ninth Acquisition, Buys Marketing Software Provider Zarget

Freshworks, the leading provider of cloud-based business software, today announced the acquisition of Zarget, a leading marketing software startup that provides marketers and designers with a suite of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) tools helping them understand how users interact with their websites. This is the ninth acquisition made by Freshworks over the last two years and will help the company focus on building marketing solutions for businesses of all sizes. In July 2017, Freshworks acquired Gurgaon-based Joe Hukum, a platform that helps businesses build their own chatbots. 

Zarget’s robust CRO tools help businesses increase orders, customer interactions and signups on their website by providing user metrics and data driven insights. Marketers can take informed decisions based on the insights gained through A/B Testing, Heatmaps, Session Recording, Polls & Feedback and much more. Through this acquisition, Freshworks seeks to further develop Zarget’s marketing suite and provide the team with expertise, technology and operations as well as access to over 120,000 customers.

“At Freshworks, our ambition is to emerge as the de facto cloud-based business software platform for businesses of all sizes,” said Girish Mathrubootham, CEO & Founder of Freshworks. “A growing number of our customers have been asking us to help them in their marketing initiatives. Today, our software powers customer engagement across every aspect of the customer journey, from customer acquisition to customer support. Acquiring Zarget will enable Freshworks to support customers with the pre-acquisition journey as well and truly transform the way our customers attract and engage with their prospective customers. Also, I have known the Zarget team for many years and I am personally thrilled to have them join the Freshworks family and power our expansion into the marketing software category.”

According to Gartner, marketing leaders allocate 27% of their expense budget to technology, equal to 3.24% of overall revenue, compared with CIO technology spend of 3.4% of revenue. Gartner also predicts that CMOs will spend more on technology than CIOs by end of 2017, further underlining the opportunity for marketing software and technology vendors.

“We are excited to join Freshworks and it's an incredible honor to be part of a company that has been our role model in many ways. We built Zarget to help marketers make informed decisions on their online properties without the need for deep technical resources or large budgets. Together with Freshworks, we expect to accelerate the digital marketing evolution and help our customers further transform the way they market with combined expertise and solutions,” said Arvind Parthiban, CEO and Co-founder of Zarget.

Zarget was founded in 2015 by Arvind Parthiban, Naveen Venkat and Santosh Kumar with an angel investment from Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham and some of the early Freshdesk employees who were friends of the Zarget founders. Over the next two years, Zarget went on to raise $7.5M in 2 rounds of funding from Accel Partners, Matrix Partners India and Sequoia Capital India. As part of the deal, the angel investors received only their initial investments back without any additional financial returns to avoid any conflict of interest.

For Zarget customers, there will be no impact on their services and Freshworks will continue to support them. Freshworks had announced the acquisition of Joe Hukum last month and with the addition of Zarget, the company continues to focus on building a refreshing suite of SaaS products following its rebrand from Freshdesk earlier this year.

Image: Girish Mathrubootham, CEO & Founder of Freshworks

Sequoia India Acquires Canadian Cosmetics Brand 'Faces' from Everstone Capital for $40M

Sequoia India has signed definitive agreements for the acquisition of Faces Cosmetics Canada, along with its international subsidiaries and the brand “Faces”, from Indivision India Partners managed by Everstone Capital. The existing management team led by Sharmili Rajput will continue to drive the business forward.

Faces is an iconic Canadian Color cosmetics brand set up over 40 years ago with a presence across countries in North America. It was acquired by Indivision India partners in 2007 and launched in India in December 2009.

“The colour cosmetics market is the fastest growing category in personal care and we see a huge opportunity for the Faces brand. The Sequoia team will work with the Faces management to make significant investments and deploy operational expertise to unlock the brand’s full potential, as well as expand its portfolio and reach.” said Abhay Pandey, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors.

Faces has a strong presence in India through leading e-commerce sites, over 900 store-in-stores, 2000 general trade stores and 13 EBOs across 80 cities. The new management team took over in 2014 and has helped grow the business rapidly to brand sales of over INR 100 Crores last year. Having successfully established itself as a young, exciting and innovative brand, the company is now looking to invest in a big way in product development, marketing and distribution and take the company to the next level.

“Our aim is to grow our revenue by 5x over the next five years, through strengthening our geographic coverage, deepening our distribution, expanding the portfolio, and extending our iconic brand to adjacent skin care categories,” said Sharmili Rajput, CEO, Faces.

Deep Mishra, MD, Everstone Capital, said: “Over the last three years, the Everstone team has reoriented the brand and product towards India and build a strong local management team. The Product suite has also been adapted to suit the Indian skin tones and points of presence scaled rapidly. The company is now poised for its next leg of growth and is well positioned for success”.

Everstone’s Rajev Shukla, a Unilever veteran, will continue to hold his personal stake in the company.

Image Source: ShutterStock