Snapchat to acquire Cimagine

Messaging app Snapchat is buying Israeli augmented reality start-up Cimagine media for an estimated $30-40 Million, making Snapchat first acquisition in Israel. Cimagine developed true marker less augmented reality technology that allows users to virtually place furniture and appliances they wish to purchase in the space of their home, on their mobile devices, at the click of a button.

Cimagine will become Snapchat research and development centre in Israel and is expected to rapidly expand its workforce from its current 20 employees. The company’s highly skilled team is probably the main reason for the acquisition, rather than its technology. The company was founded in 2012 and has raised a few million dollars. Venice, California based Snapchat is expected to go public as early as March with a valuation of as much as $25 Billion.

Cimagine specializes in computer vision, real-time image processing, mobile development, international marketing, and more. All of these are obviously compelling for Snap, whose app Snapchat is heavily reliant on augmented reality and the like. But what Cimagine brings to the table is a focus on commerce and as Snap looks towards going public perhaps some time next year, it’s quite possible that doing facilitating shopping through Snapchat might open up additional revenue opportunities.

Cimagine already has partnerships with Shop Direct, John Lewis, and Coca-Cola and wants to help retailers tap into the potential of augmented reality. So Snap may want to eventually strike partnerships with big box retailers and department stores to accelerate engagement and time spent on site. Merchants and store owners may want additional advertising opportunities so the potential of what Cimagine’s technology and team could bring to bear may be enticing.

Sun Pharma to acquire Novartis cancer drug Odomzo

India’s largest drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has inked a pact with Switzerland based Novartis AG to acquire the latter branded cancer drug Odomzo for an upfront payment of $175 Million.

Under the agreement, Sun Pharma will get global marketing rights for the product and Novartis will receive certain additional milestone payments. Odomzo is a hedgehog pathway inhibitor indicated for the treatment of advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) that recurs following a surgery or a radiation therapy, or for patients who are not candidates for surgery or radiation therapy.

Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common form of skin cancer globally. BCC accounts for approximately 80% of non-melanoma skin cancers, accounting for over 2 million cases in the US alone. BCC consists of abnormal, uncontrolled growths or lesions that arise in the skin’s basal cells, which line the outermost layer of the skin.

Odomzo has marketing approval in over 30 countries globally including the US, Europe and Australia. Odomzo was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in July 2015. Approximately, 70% of the prescribers are dermatologists and the rest are oncologists for this class of drug. Sun Pharma is making significant investments, organically as well as through acquisitions, to build a pipeline of branded products, specialty drugs and complex generics to boost growth.

ScoopWhoop Acquires Touchfone Technologies

Delhi based Internet media and news startup, ScoopWhoop Media has acquired Touchfone Technologies for an undisclosed amount in a cash and stock deal. The buyout is the first for the Kalaari Capital backed ScoopWhoop, which was founded in 2013.

Touchfone Technologies founded in 2010 and backed by Blume Ventures, enables video delivery and ad targeting across devices and networks. It counts Star, Asianet, Disney and Big Flix among its clients. Touchfone Technologies, video streaming product Strmeasy enables Video streaming services on 2G and Edge Speeds, which will help ScoopWhoop, target this market. In addition to video streaming services, the company will focus on improving personalization and brand revenue opportunities through targeted advertising.

Strmeasy is a video delivery platform that streams videos in low bandwidths. It offers end-to-end video solution which helps businesses manage and deliver videos with the highest quality irrespective of the device or network the user is on. With this acquisition of Strmeasy, ScoopWhoop will focus on boosting the advertising offerings, with the help of targeted video ads which have the highest Cost per Mile (CPM) rates in display advertising.

This development will also establish its presence in Bengaluru, in addition to the Delhi and Mumbai. Earlier in November 2015, ScoopWhoop had raised $4 Million, in a funding round, from Kalaari Capital. Other startups in the space include PopXO, MissMalini and LBB etc.

Cognizant to acquire Adaptra

Cognizant has entered into an agreement to acquire Australia based consulting, business transformation and service provider Adaptra, for an undisclosed sum. Sydney-headquartered Adaptra, established in 1998, works with five of the top 10 insurers in Australia and New Zealand.

Adaptra specializes in consulting, programme management and implementation of core platforms such as Guidewire to enable insurance companies to drive improvements across areas like underwriting and policy administration. The acquisition would further strengthen Cognizant insurance, business transformation and platform capabilities.

The acquisition (by Cognizant) would position Adaptra for new growth opportunities across technologies and industries. Cognizant’s global experience, deep digital capabilities and entrepreneurial culture will enable Adaptra to deliver broader transformational solutions. Cognizant has over 100 development centres, globally and employs about 2.25 lakh people.

Practo buys Enlightiks

Healthcare services platform Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has acquired Enlightiks Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a healthcare analytics solutions firm, in a cash and stock deal.

Established in 2012, with offices in Bengaluru and Charlotte in the US, Enlightiks owns a predictive clinical and computational platform called Querent and uses big data analytics to provide business intelligence to healthcare providers. Last year, Practo acquired Insta Health Solutions and Qikwell Technologies Pvt. Ltd. With this portfolio of software products, it completes the suite for healthcare providers.

Practo has been among the most active buyers among large Indian start-ups. Apart from Enlightiks, Qikwell and Insta, it acquired FitHo, a fitness management platform and product outsourcing firm Genii. Its acquisitions, especially Qikwell and Insta, have not only helped the company enter the enterprise segment—hospitals and clinics—but also opened additional revenue streams for the company.

Enlightiks deploys machine learning and deep learning to service more than 250 hospitals and clinics, which predominantly use its business intelligence service, while some of the clients use predictive analytics to augment revenue and streamline operations. Practo currently claims to aggregate 2 lakh doctors, 10,000 hospitals, 8,000 diagnostic centres and 4,000 wellness and fitness centres in India, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Baxter to acquire Claris Injectables

In one of the biggest deals involving a domestic pharma major, US based Baxter International Inc. entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Claris Injectables, a wholly owned subsidiary of Claris Lifesciences, for approximately $625 Million (Rs. 4,237 crore).

Claris Injectables will add proven capabilities in production of essential generic injectable medicines, such as anesthesia and analgesics, renal, anti-infective and critical care in a variety of presentations including bags, vials and ampoules. The Claris Injectables acquisition will expand Baxter’s presence in the fast growing, global generic injectable pharmaceuticals space and accelerate growth trajectory with high-value, essential medicines that will benefit patients worldwide.

The capabilities gained with Claris Injectables will augment and complement the company’s differentiated technologies, expertise and extensive presence in the hospital channel to create a pathway for Baxter to become a global leader in generic Injectables. In 2016, Claris Injectables is expected to deliver annual global revenues in excess of $100 million. Global revenues for Claris Injectables business have increased by double-digits annually over the last several years driven by new product launches and geographic expansion.

1mg acquires MediAngels

Online pharmacy and digital healthcare venture 1mg today acquired MediAngels, the platform for super specialty consultations and corporate healthcare. The terms of the deal were undisclosed. This is the second acquisition for 1mg this year, in July, the Sequoia backed company acquired Medd, a diagnostics and imaging tests marketplace.

Earlier this year, 1mg had raised its Series B funding of Rs 100 crore in a round led by Maverick Capital Ventures and additional funding from HBM Healthcare Investments. MediAngels was meant to bring topmost super specialist doctors with everyone reach using technology. With more than 450 super specialist doctors across 93 specialists, MediAngels has seen several cases in cardiology, cancers, neurosurgery, orthopedics and pediatrics subspecialties, witnessing traction from both metros and tier II cities.

MediAngels was used extensively by enterprises for second opinions for auditing and understanding healthcare needs. A recent collaborative study by MediAngels and a major private health insurer for knee replacement surgeries across India found that 18 percent of the knee replacements were either not needed or could have been dealt with before surgery became the only option left. In such cases, the patient is happy avoiding the pain of surgery and the enterprise as a payer saves money. The company already has the backing of most top insurers and several corporates, who have enrolled for the service for second opinions and employee health benefits.

With its entry into the online doctor consultations, e-pharmacy and diagnostics space, 1mg will now have to compete with a mix of different players, one of the prominent ones being Sequoia-backed Practo. The e-pharmacy space is already crowded with players like Netmeds, mChemist, Medd, DeliMedi, CareOnGo and MediDali. With its acquisition of Medd, the team forayed into the diagnostics segment, and now, with MediAngels, the team is aggressively looking to push into the B2B segment with players like Health Assure and MAR Plus.

Delivery Hero acquires Foodpanda

Berlin based online Food takeaway service Delivery Hero, one of Europe’s biggest start-ups will acquire competitor Foodpanda, a sign further consolidation to fend of new competition in Europe’s sought after food delivery business. The acquisition brings together two top food delivery startups based in Germany.

After this acquisition, the combined group is expected to process over 20 Million orders per month across 47 countries. Delivery Hero currently serves across 33 countries and Foodpanda in 22 countries. With this deal, Rocket Internet stake in Delivery Hero will grow up to 37.7%. The acquisition of Foodpanda will enable Delivery Hero to consolidate its market leadership in the Middle East and add 20 new countries in Eastern Europe, MENA and Asia.

Delivery Hero, which was most recently valued at $3.1 Billion and competes directly with publicly listed Just Eat, along with newer premium entrants such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats & Amazon. Delivery Hero and Foodpanda are both backed by German ecommerce firm Rocket Internet, which has invested 800 million euros in Delivery Hero last year and put 300 million euros into Foodpanda which focuses on deliveries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

Foodpanda has built a fantastic position and service offering some of the largest food delivery markets globally. In November end, the company had announced the participation of Sunny Leone in their digital marketing campaign. The company had said that the campaign is going to target consumers through different Social Media platforms like Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram etc. 

Next Education buys Xolvr

Next Education, a Hyderabad based learning solutions provider for K-12 students, has acqui-hired Gurugram based education technology startup Xolvr. This is the company’s third acquisition in the past 12 months.

Xolvr connects students from grades six to 12 with undergraduate IIT students, who don the hat of a tutor and help them with students such as Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science among others, through video conferencing and using a shared whiteboard. This acqui-hire will add a new element to LearnNext by offering students with a platform to access over 50 tutors.

The move, which is aimed at adding a human element to the product, will be launched in July next year. Students who subscribe to LearnNext will have the option of taking one-to-one sessions with tutors on the platform. Next Education previously acquired the robotics lab programme RoboLAB from ThinkLABS and InOpen Technologies, which gives the company access to their computer science product.

Cognizant to acquire Mirabeau BV

IT Services firm Cognizant will acquire privately held Mirabeau BV, a digital marketing and customer experience agency for an undisclosed amount. With the close of the acquisition, about 260 specialists from Mirabeau will become part of the Digital Business Practice at Cognizant, which has a majority of its workforce in India.

Mirabeau’s acquisition will expand Cognizant’s digital business capabilities in the Netherlands and across Europe, Cognizant said in statement. “Companies in consumer-facing sectors are increasing their investments in interactive solutions to provide better, more personalized experiences to their customers.”

To help clients drive growth, Cognizant Digital Business links social science research, digital strategy services, design thinking, marketing services, analytics, IoT products and services, cloud applications, and interactive content management. Mirabeau further strengthens Cognizant’s ability to work with clients to identify important insights, develop strategies, and then design prototype, and scale meaningful product and service experiences.

Based in Amsterdam, Mirabeau specializes in verticals like travel and hospitality, financial services, retail, and B2B sectors. Its clients include brands such as KLM, ING, Air France, Maxeda, MoneYou, LeasePlan.com, and Transavia. Leveraging its comprehensive design, branding and technology expertise, Mirabeau helps clients develop and implement their digital marketing strategies and build engaging omnichannel customer experiences.

Bharat Forge to buy Walker Forge Tennessee

Auto components major Bharat Forge will buy US based Walker Forge Tennessee (WFT) for $14 Million (around Rs 95 crore), a move aimed at expanding its product range in automotive and other industrial segments.

The acquisition of Walker Forge Tennessee creates a strategic manufacturing footprint in North America to leverage existing customer relationships while simultaneously enabling the company to address new end-market segments and broaden the product portfolio. The proposed acquisition is focused on increasing the company’s product offering in the passenger car and commercial vehicle segments as well into industrial sectors such as construction and mining.

WFT is a leading supplier of complex, steel and high-alloy steel, engine and chassis components to a diverse group of customers across automotive and industrial sectors. The US firm is expected to record revenues of $28 million this year with a balanced revenue mix across the automotive and industrial sectors. The proposed transaction will be consummated upon completion of certain conditions and regulatory approvals.

Facebook buys FacioMetrics

Facebook has bought facial recognition start-up FacioMetrics, potentially using the technology for photo or video effects to better challenge rival Snapchat. How people share and communicate is changing and things like masks and other effects allow people to express themselves in fun and creative ways.

Silicon Valley-based Facebook did not disclose financial terms of the deal to buy FacioMetrics, which was spun out of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. FacioMetrics was founded in 2015 and specializes in using artificial intelligence to give facial image analysis capabilities to applications that run on smartphones.

The technology has potential in a host of applications, including those focused on animation, measuring audience reactions, and virtual or augmented realities. Using FacioMetrics to let users of Facebook, or subsidiaries such as Instagram, have fun with photos or video could be a counter-move to those kinds of features offered in “filters” at vanishing message service Snapchat.

Parent company Snap estimates it has more than 100 million users globally of the service for sending videos, images and text messages which vanish after being viewed. Some reports say it generates 10 billion video views per day. Since trying unsuccessfully to buy Southern California-based Snapchat several years ago, Facebook has turned to cloning popular features.

Samsung to acquire Harman

Samsung is increasing its focus on the connected car after the Korean firm plans to buy auto and audio product maker Harman in an all cash deal worth $8 Billion. Samsung lags Google and Apple on in-car entertainment and software systems (Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, respectively) so this deal will give it the kind of reach that could allow it to compete more evenly with its rivals inside the car.

You may best associate the name with audio equipment, but Harman is big on cars, too. The acquisition is Samsung’s largest to date and a big deal for its automotive ambitions. Around 65 percent of Harman’s sales — which totaled $7 billion over the last year — were for car-related products. Samsung added that Harman products, which included connected car devices and audio systems, are installed in an estimated 30 million vehicles worldwide.

With Google rapidly advancing its automotive technology and Apple reportedly developing an electic vehicle (or not), it is perhaps not surprising that Samsung has made ground on automotive itself in 2016. This summer, it invested $450 Million into China based electric Car maker BYD, which includes Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. among its investor base. Other Reports suggested that the Korean giant was also eyeing up a bid for Magneti Marelli, a manufacturing subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler.

This investment will go beyond automotive, though, according to Samsung. The firm said it plans to marry its own electronics division and expertise with that of Harman for audio — both on the consumer and professional side of business — and connected devices, aka the internet of things, or IOT for short.

Paytm acqui-hires Shopsity

Paytm, India’s largest mobile payments and commerce platform has acquired the team at Shopsity, a Delhi based startup that offered O2O solutions to small retail stores. This move is in line with Paytm vision to create strong seller focused services to its offline merchants.

Shopsity is focused on small unorganized retailers, providing them with tools to attract and retain customers. Paytm is actively working to strengthen seller services for the 800,000 strong offline sellers on the Paytm ecosystem. Launched in March 2015, Shopsity is an O2O mobile platform, where you get to see what’s selling in stores nearby. During July last year, the platform had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Shopclues and Droom, and Netprice.

In July, Paytm started accepting payments at retail chains like Spencer’s Retail, Heritage Fresh, More, WH Smith, Kendriya Bhandar, V2 Retail, Value Plus and Pai International (Pai Mobile). This followed its tie-up with quick-service-restaurants such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Cafe Coffee Day, Costa Coffee, Barista, Vaango, among others. Paytm claims to have 125 million wallets.

In September, Paytm had acqui-hired EduKart, an e-learning marketplace for an undisclosed amount. In January this year, Paytm acquired Shifu, a consumer behavior prediction platform for an undisclosed amount. A month before that, the company acquired Gurgaon-based services marketplace Near.in for $2 million.

Go-Jek acquires LeftShift Technologies

Indonesian Bike hailing app Go-Jek has acquired Pune based app development company LeftShift Technologies Pvt. Ltd for an undisclosed amount to strengthen its product development efforts, making its fourth acquisition of an Indian firm.

It helped more than 200 companies design and develops mobile apps, including companies such as BookMyShow, Practo, OYO, Byju’s Classes, Airtel and Emerson. It also counted Go-Jek as one of its customers. The product development centre, which has about 60 employees now, comprises developers, data scientists, designers and product managers who work on mining data and delivering better experiences for consumers.

Go-Jek had earlier acquired Bengaluru-based home healthcare start-up Pianta in August. In February, the firm announced that it bought Bengaluru-based software engineering company C42 Engineering India Pvt. Ltd and Delhi-based development and operations company CodeIgnition Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd for engineering talent. These deals are so-called acqui-hires, which is jargon for an acquisition made to gain access to the employees of the acquired company.

Go-Jek offers stock options to the employees of its acquired companies that vest over four years. Go-Jek was started by Harvard graduate in 2011 and is the first Indonesian start-up to achieve the “unicorn” status after a $550 million funding round in August led by KKR and Warburg Pincus.

Zensar Technologies acquires Foolproof

Zensar Technologies Ltd, part of the RP Goenka Group, had agreed to buy user experience (UX) design agency Foolproof Ltd. London-based Foolproof helps global brands design products based on an understanding of consumer behavior.

Founded in 2002, Foolproof has around 100 employees in its offices in Norwich, Singapore and London. The acquisition gives Zensar access to Foolproof’s clientele across sectors such as banking and financial services, retail, high technology and oil and gas. Foolproof’s market leadership in experience design and the strong management team at its helm are strategic to Zensar’s plan to increase market share in this increasingly important space.

The acquisition will fortify Zensar’s digital offerings and furthers the company’s ability to work with chief marketing officers and chief digital officers to improve outcomes for their customers and to drive innovation through design. Foolproof will operate under its own brand name and will continue to be managed by founders peter Ballard and Tom Wood.

Headquartered in Pune, IT services company Zensar caters to global clients in the manufacturing, retail and hi-tech businesses. The firm employs more than 8,000 people at 29 locations around the globe. For the financial year 2015-16, Zensar reported revenue of Rs 1,245.9 crore, up from Rs 1,079.9 crore in the previous year, and a profit of Rs 234.2 crore, up from Rs 183.1 crore.

BroEx acquires REXPROP

BroEx, a mobile based property broker’s network, has acquired Real Estate technology startup REXPROP for an undisclosed amount to expand business and provide better products to its clients.

Gurgaon-based REXPROP or 'Real Estate Property Exchange' is a startup which offers solutions such as inventory distribution, broker to broker listings and CRM for property consultants, agents, brokers and developers. Earlier this year, BroEx had acquired independent broker company Professional Brokers. It had also tied up with real estate consultant JLL India's housing arm for getting access to exclusive deals.

REXPROP has developed innovative offerings around listing management and CRM for real estate brokers which compliment BroEx. BroEx is being used by more than 1.5 lakh real estate brokers, he said, adding that this deal would further enhance its offering and cement position as the go-to software for the brokerage industry.

BroEx, which had raised $1 million as seed funding, helps real estate brokers to serve their customers better and close deals faster. It also provides inventory information to FastFox.Com - rental brokerage service by its parent company OkuTech. OkuTech is founded by IIT alumni and funded by LightSpeed Venture Partners.

CenturyLink to buy Level 3 Communications

CenturyLink Inc. agreed to buy Level 3 Communications Inc. for about $34 Million in cash and stock, creating a more formidable competitor to AT&T Inc. in the market to handle heavy Internet traffic for businesses.

Both companies have amassed giant networks to haul internet traffic through deals over the years. Level 3 is one of the largest providers used by internet services including Netflix Inc. and Google to route traffic across the web, operations that would bolster CenturyLink core offerings to businesses. Level 3 was the second-biggest US provider of Ethernet services—running high-bandwidth internet connections for companies—in the first half of this year, trailing only AT&T, according to Vertical Systems Group Inc. CenturyLink was fifth on the list.

CenturyLink, which has been exploring the sale of its data center business, is one of the biggest phone companies in the US, formed after CenturyTel Inc. bought Embarq Corp. in 2009 and acquired Qwest Communications International Inc. two years later. Both companies have contended with growing competition from cable providers and other smaller rivals offering internet and phone connections for businesses. 

CenturyLink, which also offers residential landline phone and internet services in cities such as Phoenix and Seattle, gets about two-thirds of its revenue from business customers. The acquisition is one of the biggest telecommunications deals of the year. Level 3 had a market value of $19.4 billion and has about $11 billion in debt. CenturyLink was valued at about $16.6 billion and has about $19 billion in debt.

Amazon to acquire Westland

Online marketplace Amazon has agreed to acquire the remaining 74% stake in Westland, the publishing unit of the Tata Group retail company Trent Ltd, indicating its interest in expanding its presence in India Books Market.

The acquisition would help Westland’s authors to grow their physical and digital book businesses in India as well as expand their reach to customers globally. In just three years Amazon have built India’s largest online store that customers can trust to find, discover and buy anything online. The acquisition of Westland continues our commitment to India—enabling Amazon to bring Westland’s highly talented authors and their books to even more customers in India and around the world.

Amazon, which is the world’s largest Internet-based retailer, started out as an online bookstore in 1994. From selling books by third-party publishers on its platform, Amazon has since started its own publishing unit, Amazon Publishing. Since its founding in 2009, Amazon Publishing has published in different genres from romance and thrillers to spirituality, comics, and science fiction.

Chennai-based Westland began as a book distributor but ventured into publishing in 2007. Today, it is one of the top five English language trade publishers in the country and its imprints include Tranquebar Press (for literary fiction and non-fiction), EastWest (focusing on South Indian heritage) and Westland (for trade books, both fiction and non-fiction). The present company was formed from the merger of two companies, Westland Books Pvt. Ltd and EastWest Books (Madras) Pvt. Ltd in April 2008.

IBM acquires Sanovi

Global computer services major IBM has signed a deal to acquire Bengaluru based cloud recovery and migration software Sanovi for an undisclosed sum. IBM said that the acquisition will help to assure its clients of business continuity and disaster recovery, when they shift their applications to cloud.

As a cloud-native company, Sanovi will strengthen IBM resiliency portfolio to manage the broad range of applications, data, and IT systems of our clients balancing digital and hybrid cloud transformation with increased regulatory compliance.  IBM plans to also license the Sanovi disaster recovery management software as a stand-alone platform to customers.

Adding these capabilities along with advanced analytics will better enable IBM to bolster its Software Defined Resiliency strategy and delivery of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery services for clients undergoing digital and hybrid Cloud transformation, the company said in a statement. IBM plans to integrate the Sanovi capabilities into the IBM Global Technology Services unit by the end of 2016.

Hybrid Cloud solutions are turning out to be the preferred choice for enterprises in India for an enhanced efficiency, productivity and cyber security. A Hybrid Cloud is an integrated Cloud service utilizing both private and public Clouds to perform distinct functions within the same organization. With Sanovi's software, IBM will further empower clients to redefine their disaster recovery strategy in the face of unprecedented industry change.

L&T Infotech to buy AugmentIQ

IT Services and solutions provider L&T Infotech announced that it will acquire Pune based AugmentIQ Data sciences, a start-up offering IP based, big data and analytics solution that allows enterprises derive business benefits from big data.

As a result of this acquisition, L&T Infotech will gain access to MAXIQ, the big data platform developed by AugmentIQ, which is currently servicing one of the world's largest credit bureaus, large banks as well as regulatory agencies. Also, the proprietary identity resolution technology from AugmentIQ is among the best in its class and can be adopted to solve the emerging needs of regulatory authorities across all markets.

MAXIQ from AugmentIQ brings the power of automation and Do-it-Yourself (DIY) to big data. Its end-to-end, self-service approach enables business users to leverage big data technologies such as Hadoop & Spark. The proposed acquisition will enable L&T Infotech to build upon MAXIQ by integrating it within LTI's MOSAIC Decision Science platform. 

L&T Infotech clients are seeking big data solutions that can be implemented quickly and scale as per their requirements. AugmentIQ offers a very versatile platform that can expand instantly and enable accelerated data monetization. During last four years, AugmentIQ have grown rapidly and are working with some major clients in India and globally. 

Google buys Eyefluence

Google has acquired a 3-year-old-eye-tracking company for virtual and augmented reality headsets, signaling the tech giant’s interest in the immersive technologies. Eyefluence develops eye-interaction technologies to control VR and AR headsets. Eyes can instantaneously transform intent into action, enabling communication as fast as you can see.

Google released its Cardboard smartphone VR visor in mid-2014 and its Daydream View VR headset in early October. The company is also reportedly working on a high-end VR headset. The deal allows Google to put Eyefluence's technology into VR and AR products like Daydream, allowing third-party developers and publishers to use it as part of the Google's UI toolkit, said Lewis Ward, research director for gaming and VR/AR at IDC.

Functional eye-tracking is a widely desired feature in virtual reality and augmented reality, which lets digital images interact with the physical world. Eye-tracking tech would curb some of the latency and accessibility issues that keep the nascent media to a niche fan base. Google has invested heavily in VR, launching tailored software and introducing its own mobile headset earlier this month. Google has also invested directly in Magic Leap, a start-up that is also purportedly working on eye interaction technology.

Eye-tracking is a very important technology to future virtual reality headsets. Other companies in the space like SMI and Tobii have devoted efforts to using the eye as a method of signaling attention in interfaces but Eyefluence has devoted itself fully to using eye gesture cues for navigating menus and making selections.

AT&T to buy Time Warner

AT&T Inc. has reached an agreement to buy Time Warner Inc. for about $85 Million, paving the way for what would be the biggest deal in the world this year, giving the telecom company control of cable TV channels HBO and CNN, film studio Warner Bros and other coveted media assets.

The deal, which has been agreed on most terms, would be one of the largest in recent years in the sector as telecommunications companies look to combine content and distribution to capture customers replacing traditional pay-tv packages with more streamlined offerings and online delivery.

AT&T, which sells wireless phone and broadband services, has already made moves to turn itself into a media powerhouse, buying satellite TV provider DirecTV last year for $48.5 billion. It also in 2014 entered a joint venture, Otter Media, with the Chernin Group to invest in media businesses, and has rolled out video streaming services.

Time Warner is a major force in movies, TV and video games. Its assets include the HBO, CNN, TBS and TNT networks as well as the Warner Bros film studio, producer of the “Batman” and “Harry Potter” film franchises. The company also owns a 10% stake in video streaming site Hulu. The media industry has been seen as ripe for consolidation, and several stocks rose on the news, including Netflix Inc. which closed up about 3.4%, and Discovery Communications Inc, which ended up 3.6%

Wipro to acquire Appirio

Country’s third largest IT firm Wipro has acquired cloud services company Appirio for $500 Million (around Rs 3,340 crore) in a cash transaction. Once completed, Wipro acquisition of Appirio will create one of the world’s largest cloud transformation practices, a game changer in todays as a service and digital economy.

Post-acquisition, Wipro will also have access to Topcoder, a crowd sourcing marketplace connecting over a million designers, developers and data scientists around the world with customers. Wipro will consolidate its existing cloud applications practices of Salesforce and Workday under the Appirio brand and structure.

Established in 2006, the US based Appirio has offices in Jaipur, San-Francisco, Dublin, London and Tokyo and has 1,250 employees worldwide. It had revenues of $196 Million in 2015 and its clients include brands like Stryker, Robert Half, Johnson Controls, Cardinal Health, Coco-cola, eBay, Facebook, Home Depot, and Sony PlayStation.

In an increasingly digital world, as consumer behaviors and expectations continue to be reshaped by experiences, companies are recognizing that they need to transform how they engage with customers and employees by leveraging the power of Cloud. The acquisition is expected to be closed in the quarter ending 31 December 2016. William Blair & Company acted as financial advisor to Appirio during the transaction.

Freshdesk buys Chatimity

Customer support software maker Freshdesk Inc. one of India’s most well-funded product start-ups had acquired Bengaluru based chat-bot firm Chatimity to augment its product offerings. Chatimity is the sixth in a series of small companies Freshdesk has acquired and the second in the chat space. In December last year, Freshdesk acquired Konotor, which helped businesses chat with their customers within apps.

Freshdesk acquired Airwoot, a social customer support platform in April, Framebench, a file collaboration platform in February, Frilp, a social recommendation app in October, and 1Click, a video chat platform in August. Chat will play an important role in the future of communication for customer service but scaling that infrastructure continues to be a challenge.

Scaling quality customer support along with a rapidly expanding user base is a challenge that most internet-based firms face. With Chatimity’s bot, MITI, this can be used to converse with thousands of users in real time, Freshdesk hopes to help companies solve this problem. Although bots have been around for a while in one form or the other, advances in artificial intelligence and natural language processing have made chat-bots - bots that can emulate human conversations more accessible and popular than ever, with several companies such as Facebook and Slack opening up their platforms for chat-bots builders.

Freshdesk, which has so far raised $95 million from venture capital firms Accel Partners, Google Capital and Tiger Global Management LLC, has 50,000 customers globally, and competes with Helpshift, and global heavyweights ZenDesk and Salesforce.com. The company is based in San Bruno, California, with offices in London, Sydney and Chennai.

MakeMyTrip to buy Ibibo Travel Business

Online Travel firm MakeMyTrip Ltd has agreed to buy Ibibo Group’s Travel Business in India for $720 Million in stock, creating one of the largest travel companies in the country. The deal will bring all brands of the Nasper and Tencent backed Ibibo Group such as Goibibo, redBus, Ryde and Rightstay under MakeMyTrip. Together, MakeMyTrip and Ibibo processed 34.1 Million transactions in 2015-16.

The transaction is expected to unlock value for customers, supply partners and shareholders, by combining the complementary strengths of each business. MakeMyTrip brings its strong brand, robust mix of domestic and outbound hotels and packages business and strong position in the air ticketing business. Ibibo Group, via its brand Goibibo and redBus, comes with a strong presence in various fast growing travel segments including hotels, bus bookings and air ticketing. 

The combined entity is valued at $1.8 Billion. Naspers and Tencent jointly held 91% and 9% stake in Ibibo respectively. They will be issued new shares in MakeMyTrip and will become the single largest shareholder in MakeMyTrip, owning a 40% stake and will continue proportionate working capital once the deal is closed.

India is a key market for Naspers. Ibibo and MakeMyTrip have built leading companies through their innovative use of technology to create exceptional experiences for people traveling throughout India and increasingly beyond. Morgan Stanley acted as the financial advisor to MakeMyTrip. Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisor to Ibibo and Naspers while Cravath, Swaine and Moore, Trilegal and BLC Roberts served as legal advisors.

FirstCry to acquire BabyOye

Online Baby products seller FirstCry is acquiring Mahindra Retail, which runs offline stores under BabyOye brand, for about Rs 362 crore in a landmark deal in the Indian Retail Market. The Pune based startup will acquire the franchisee division of Mahindra Retail, part of the $18 Billion software to automobiles conglomerates Mahindra and Mahindra.

The deal is a stock transaction, under which FirstCry owner Brainbees Solutions will issue shares worth Rs 355 crore to Mahindra Group and pay Rs 7.5 crore in cash. The deal will help FirstCry, which already has 180 franchised stores; create one of the largest Omni-channel retail plays in the country, with a strong presence both online and offline. As a part of transaction, FirstCry has also raised Rs 226 crore in fresh funding form Mahindra Group and Switzerland Adveq, besides existing backers like IDG Ventures India, SAIF Partners, NEA and Vertex.

Mahindra Retail had expanded into the online baby care market last year with acquisition of BabyOye and also rebranded its offline stores from Mom & Me to the online brand. It has over 120 stores that are a combination of large format, high street and mall locations and hospital stores. Mahindra Retail acquired BabyOye.com in February 2015. FirstCry.com will have a parent base of over 4 Million, a footprint of over 300 stores spread across 125 cities.

Gozoop to acquire 56 Blue Lights

Mumbai based digital media agency Gozoop is in talks to acquire offline activation agency and syndicated content provider 56 Blue Lights in an all cash deal. Through this acquisition, Gozoop aim to carry out all their offline work. Gozoop is building the offline part by making hires from traditional agencies such as JWT and others.

Acquisition of UAE based 56 Blue Lights will enable Gozoop to offer a wider product portfolio including events, radio, television programming and outdoor advertising. Gozoop, which has about 140 clients including about 80 on a retainer basis, will get access to 56 Blue Lights clientele. Through the acquisition the company expects to grow its topline by over 50% in the coming fiscal.

In the last five years, the company has expanded its services to the US, the UAE and Singapore. However, about two thirds of the company’s revenue comes from the Indian market. With complementing domains of expertise, 56 Blue Lights and Gozoop will together be able to leverage the potential of 360 degree marketing by coalescing online and offline marketing strategies. The company counts Holiday Inn, Regal Group, Bank of Baroda, Noor Oil, Khaleej Times, and the Landmark Group among clients.

56 Blue Lights was founded in 2013 and has been the name behind memorable content in the UAE such as the Cricket and Carrom Premier League, Nityodita Festival of Fine Arts and Musicians United. Earlier this year in April, Indus Net Technologies, a Kolkata based internet consulting company, made a strategic investment to acquire a majority stake in TechShu after buying out the existing investors. 

Dentsu Aegis acquires Happy Creative Services

Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the acquisition of creative marketing agency Happy Creative Services (also known as Happy) which will join the Global McGarryBowen network of agencies and be rebranded as Happy mcgarrybowen. The deal size is estimated to be up to Rs. 300 Crore.

The acquisition marks the first McGarryBowen agency in India as it expands its footprint in Asia with other offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and China. Happy will continue to be headquartered in Bengaluru. The agency is known for servicing new age businesses and existing clients will get the benefits of the tools and learning’s that a global agency network will bring.

Established in 2007, Happy Creative Services is an independent creative outfit with a staff of 100 across three disciplines – brand design, integrated brand Communication and Digital. Recently, Happy bagged the “Agency of the Year” title at the 2016 edition of Maddys organized by the Advertising Club Madras.

Happy work on the “Ola Boat” which was an emergency boat service set up by Ola Cabs to help stranded people in the city of Chennai during the November 2015 Floods, also won numerous national and international awards.

Everstone to buy CRM Solutions

India focused private equity firm Everstone Group has agreed to acquire US based global CRM solutions provider C3 (CustomerContactChannels) through its Singapore based arm Everise Services, along with Sunrise BPO Pte Ltd as co-investor. The business has been bought from Stone Point Capital and senior Leadership of C3.

Stone Point Capital is a private equity firm that makes investments in businesses within the global financial services industry. Stone Point has raised and managed six private equity funds – the Trident Funds – with aggregate committed capital of approximately $13 Billion. As part of this strategy, Sunrise BPO will take the leading role in operating the business, in addition to bringing Capital. Everstone will be the largest financial investor and it will take the lead in C3 India operational built out to grow the company.

Everise is targeting to make C3 into a $500 plus Million revenue company over the next five years, from current $200 Million. Over the past six years, C3 has clocked revenue CAGR of more than 60%. This marks Everstone third investment through its latest private equity fund, ECP III, which raised $730 Million last year and the second investment into the ITes enabled space after it acquired a controlling stake Servion Global Solutions.

Founded in 2010, C3 expanded operations in the Philippines and Guatemala and has a marquee list of over 20 clients in healthcare, telecommunications & media, consumer internet, Logistics, retail, travel and hospitality and financial services. C3 also provides training and consulting in the customer management solutions space, as well as sales, performance optimization, reputation management and complete customer lifecycle management via traditional, web, and emerging communication channels.

Intas Pharmaceuticals to buy Actavis

Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd agreed to buy Actavis UK Ltd and Actavis Ireland Ltd from Israeli generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd for an enterprise value of approximately Rs 5,083 crore in an all cash transaction.

The acquisition will expand Intas UK manufacturing presence with the addition of the Barnstaple site in North Devon and more than doubles Intas pan-European operations, with revenues exceeding $500 Million. The Barnstaple plant will become the company’s fourth UK site. The deal will also increase Intas access to UK and Irish retail and hospital markets.

The transaction is part of the European Commission’s anti-trust divestiture requirements arising from Teva acquisition of Actavis Generics. Teva agreed in July 2015 to purchase Allergan generics unit for $40.5 Billion in cash and stock a deal that made Teva the largest manufacturer of generic drugs in the world. Since then Teva has been on a divestment spree to address antitrust concerns.

In July, Cipla Ltd, India’s fifth largest drug maker, had acquired a portfolio of three products from Teva in the US. Aurobindo Pharma Ltd was also part of the 11 firms that agreed to acquire 79 existing and future drugs from Teva. Intas acquisition of Teva UK assets puts it in the big league of large overseas acquisitions by Indian Pharma firms. It is also the biggest outbound M&A transaction in the Pharma space so far in 2016.

Capillary Technologies buys Sellerworx

Capillary Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which offers customer relationship management, software and marketing analytics for retailers, has acquired Sellerworx Online Service Pvt. Ltd for an undisclosed amount in a stock and cash deal to strengthen its product portfolio.

Apart from offline retailers, Capillary now offers products to online sellers and marketplaces through one technology platform instead of sellers using multiple channels. Founded in 2008, Capillary raised an undisclosed amount as a loan from InnoVen Capital in August. Sellerworx provides products and services for retailers and merchants to manage the inventory, pricing, returns across different marketplaces and a dynamic price management tool for marketplace sellers.

It was funded in 2015 by Axilor Ventures. With a clientele across 30 countries, Capillary claims its products are being used in over 20,000 stores by more than 200 large enterprise retailers including Unilever, Wal-Mart Stores Inc and the Landmark Group, Calvin Klein, Gap, Starbucks, Pizza Hut and Puma.

Zee acquires UAE based Hum 106.2

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) which operates entertainment channels like Zee TV and Zee Cinema has announced its foray into radio broadcasting space with the acquisition of UAE based radio station “Hum 106.2”. ZEEL already operates satellite television channels like Zee Aflam and Zee Alwan in the UAE Market.

Hum 106.2, previously owned and operated by Shamal Media Services, is a UAE based Hindi FM Radio channel with a current market share of 26%. The frequency was one of the first Hindi and Urdu language frequencies in the UAE to hit airwaves in the 1990s. This move comes immediately after ZEEL forayed into film production and distribution in the UAE and Middle East markets.

Radio has been an area of interest for ZEE for quite some time and after extensive planning and studying of the brand values, ratings and revenue generated by various stations, HUM FM was the best option. Now, Zee can offer media across television, radio and digital platforms leading to a great synergy between content and mediums. More announcements are expected in the coming weeks on the future channel programming and its positioning.

Earlier this month, ZEEL entered the Hispanic market with the launch of its Spanish language Bollywood movie channel Zee Mundo on 13 September. ZEEL also sold its sports network TEN Sports to Sony Pictures Network (SPN) in all cash deal worth $385 Million on 1 September. For the quarter ended June 2016, ZEEL had reported a net profit of Rs 218.1 crore, a 21.4% increase from Rs 179.6 crore, in the year ago period.

Go-Jek acquires Pianta

Go-Jek, the Indonesian ride-hailing service backed by Sequoia Capital, KKR & Co and Warburg Pincus, has acquired Bangalore based health care marketplace Pianta, its third acquisition in India. The purchase is aimed at beefing up its engineering team in India, which is focused on product innovation and mining data to better serve Go-Jek customers in Indonesia.

Go-Jek, which introduced a mobile app in January 2015 to provide motorcycle rides on demand, raised more than $550 Million in a round of funding in August to compete with Uber Technologies Inc. and Grab, two private car hailing startups that have begun two wheeled services on its home turf.

Go-Jek has become one of the most popular ways to get around in Indonesia, especially in traffic snarled cities like Jakarta. The company has branched out to other services, including food delivery, same-day delivery, grocery shopping and household cleaning. In April, it introduced an e-wallet service called Go-Pay to enable payments across its diverse services.

Pianta, which helps customers find and make appointments with healthcare providers, was founded in 2015. Go-Jek has acquired two other Indian startups in the past to bolster its engineering ranks. Grab, Go-Jek rival in Indonesia, raised $750 Million this month from Investors including Softbank Group Corp.