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.

NIIT acquires Perceptron

NIIT Ltd, a global skill and talent development firm, has acquired Bengaluru based startup Perceptron Learning Solutions Private Ltd to accelerate its digital initiatives and bring in deep analytics capabilities to its learning platforms. This is a strategic move to strengthen digital capabilities as the startup brings complementary technology platform to NIIT.

Started in 2014, Perceptron has been working on developing next generation learning platforms that combine deep analytics and semantic computing to ensure better learning outcomes. Deep Analytics entails data mining that analyzes extracts and organizes large amounts of data beneficial for an organization or individual, while semantic computing involves analyzing data based on meaning, context and intention.

Perceptron next generation learning platform, Ilimi, helps identity areas where a learner is lacking and provides appropriate recommendations. It is a cloud based platform, which combines short videos with personalized learning activities for its users based on its analytics and social learning. Ilimi technology is also one of the core components of the EkStep learning platform, a not for profit initiative set up to create learning opportunities for children.

At present, NIIT run three digital transformation initiatives StackRoute, digiNxt and Training.com and Perceptron Ilimi will bring semantic computing, predictive analytics, learning science capabilities to create learner-centric immersive learning and mastery learning platform for its users.

Zomato acquires Sparse Labs

Online restaurant ordering and discovery portal Zomato acquired logistic technology start-up Sparse Labs, as it looks to improve the delivery experience. Sparse Labs has developed an Android based mobile Application which transmits delivery executive’s location to both the restaurant and the consumer in real time.

This technology is critical as for Zomato as 80% of its delivery orders are fulfilled by restaurants. Main rival Swiggy owns its delivery fleet and is counting on controlling the experience as its differentiator. The company said that the Sparse Labs will be renamed as Zomato Trace, and will give free of cost to restaurants on Zomato Food delivery network. Zomato added that restaurants also have the option of using “a proprietary GPS tracker developed by Sparse that can be fitted onto bikes.”

Till last April, Zomato seemed to be considerably hungry, acquiring several startups for its kitty. After that, all was silent for a while, with new of firing and lower valuations. Now, Zomato seems to be back in the acquisition game. After raising a $50 Million round recently, with a valuation of over $1 Billion, the company has begun a buying spree outside its bread and butter restaurant listing companies.

After a bunch of acquisitions across various geographies, Zomato also acquired MapleGraph to launch Zomato Base and has just acquired US based NexTable, a restaurant reservations and table management platform that competes against the likes of Priceline’s OpenTable and SeatMe from Yelp. The company traffic had reportedly grown three times after it acquired UrbanSpoon, and the number of restaurants on the platform supposedly grew seven times and is even present in 23 countries. 

Paytm buys Edukart

Payment service provider Paytm (One97 Communications Ltd) has bought education technology start-up Edukart, backed by cricketer Yuvraj Singh and Paytm founder after it failed to raise new funds. The purchase, whose value wasn’t disclosed, is a so called acquihire – or buying out a company primarily for the skills and expertise of its staff.

Edukart aggregated courses offered by other education technology startups such as Byju’s, Simplilearn, Edureka and Toppr, coaching institutes such as Aakash Institute, Vidyamandir Classes and Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Annamalai University, National Institute of Management and Technology and University of Mysore among others.

The company raised $2 Million in three rounds from Kima Ventures, AKM Systems, Stanford Alumni, Paytm’s Sharma, WaterBridge Ventures, Yuvraj Singh YouWeCan Ventures, early stage fund 500 startups, angel United Finsec, the family office of hologram maker Holostik Group. According to industry expert, while Edukart startups may boast of a large user base, they might struggle to make users pay for the content.

Since 2015, Paytm has either invested in or bought at least five firms. It has bought consumer behavior prediction and recommendation platform Shifu and home services provider Near.in, apart from investing in online auto-rickshaw aggregator Jugnoo, logistics data start-up LogiNext and deal discovery app Little. 

Apple buys Tuplejump

Apple Inc. has acquired Indian machine learning start-up Tuplejump Software Pvt. Ltd as it seeks to expand its expertise in Artificial Intelligence. The iPhone maker bought the Hyderabad, India based start-up in June. Tuplejump software specializes in processing and analyzing big sets of data quickly.

Artificial Intelligence has become a key investment field for tech giants as Google, Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. compete with Apple to develop virtual assistants. The Tuplejump deal is Apple’s third acquisition in the industry this year, after the iPhone maker bought Seattle based Turi Inc. for $200 Million and purchased Emotient, a company that uses AI to recognize and act upon facial expressions, for an undisclosed amount.

Tuplejump has about a dozen employees, many of whom were already based on the west coast of US. Apple allowed third parties to use its Siri Virtual assistant in their own apps for the first time this year, a move that was seen by some Artificial Intelligence experts as a key step in improving the product by leaning on the Cupertino, California based company’s vast community of developers.

Google’s rival product has gained plaudits for its ability to understand the intent for a request, while Amazon’s Alexa has an edge in understanding different accents, dialects and languages. Meanwhile, Facebook is seeking to build intelligent chatbots into its social network.

Dentsu Aegis acquires Perfect Relations

Dentsu Aegis Network has bought Local public Relations (PR) firm Perfect Relations Group, which will retain its branding. The acquisition further strengthens Dentsu overall communications offering in Indian Market. India’s Public Relations market size is estimated at Rs 1200 crore growing at a rate of 15%.

Perfect Relations Group’s presence spans across 19 offices and 50 cities in India with over 500 associates, offering services including corporate reputation management, brand and marketing communications, media management, and crisis management. The group comprises Perfect Relations, Accord Public Relations, Image Public Relations, Imprimis Life PR, India Media Monitor and Buzz. Its clients include the Coca-Cola Co, Nokia, Bharti Airtel Ltd and Hondo Motor Co, among others.

Welcoming the development, PR Industry leaders believe that the acquisition highlights the healthy growth in the industry and continued focus of International conglomerates in the Indian Market. Part of Japan’s Dentsu Inc., Dentsu Aegis Network is made up of nine global network brands – Carat, Dentsu, Dentsu Media, iProspect, Isobar, mcgarrybowen, MKTG, Posterscope and Vizeum and supported by its multi-market brands.

The network is headquartered in London and operates in 145 countries worldwide with around 32,000 employees. In India, Dentsu Aegis Network is supported through its global network brands namely Carat, iProspect, Isobar, Posterscope, Vizeum, MKTG and Amnet along with the Dentsu branded agencies – Dentsu Impact, Dentsu One, Dentsu India, Dentsu Media, Taproot Dentsu and Dentsu Webchutney. Also, newly added to the group are the recently acquired local brands Milestone Brandcom, WATConsult and Fountainhead

Bayer to buy Monsanto

German drugs and crop chemicals company Bayer has won over US seeds firm Monsanto with an improved takeover offer of around $66 Billion, ending months of wrangling after increasing its bid for a third time. The deal will create a company commanding more than a quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides in the fast consolidating farm supplies industry.

Bayer’s move to combine its crop chemicals business, the world’s second largest after Syngenta AG, with Monsanto industry leading seeds business, is the latest in a series of major tie-ups in the agrochemicals sector. The German company is aiming to create a one-stop for seeds, crop chemicals and computer aided services to farmers. US chemicals giants Dow Chemical and DuPont plan to merge and later spin off their respective seeds and crop chemical operations into a major agribusiness.

The Bayer Monsanto deal will be the largest ever involving a German buyer, beating Daimler’s tie up with Chrysler in 1998, which valued the US carmaker at more than $40 Billion. It will also be the largest all-cash transaction on record, ahead of brewer InBev’s $60.4 Billion offer for Anheuser-Busch in 2008. 

PayU to buy Citrus Pay

Digital Payment provider PayU, which is owned by South Africa’s Naspers Group will buy rival Citrus Pay for $130 Million, the fifth largest deal ever in the Indian Start-up business and an indicator of the booming financial technology sector.

After the acquisition, PayU India will have more than 30 Million customers. The company forecast it will process an estimated 150 Million transactions worth $4.2 Billion in 2016. The deal is expected to give an attractive exit to Citrus Pay investors, Ascent Capital and Beenos and Sequoia Capital. It also represents the latest expansion push by Naspers, which owns the Ibibo Group in India.

Naspers is now involved in two of the five biggest deals in Indian start-ups. It also bought online bus ticketing platform RedBus in 2013 for an estimated $135 Million and owns a large minority stake in Flipkart. Rising mobile Internet usage and a regulatory push toward converting cash payments into digital are expected to drive a rapid expansion of online payments.

Quikr acquires Stayglad

Listings website Quikr India Pvt. Ltd has acquired on demand beauty services provider Stayglad for an undisclosed sum after the start-up failed to attract new investors and ran out of cash. Stayglad, owned by Glow Prime Technologies Pvt. Ltd, was in talks with Accel Partners and Matrix Partners to raise funds but the talks were unsuccessful, prompting the company to scout for a buyer.

This is Quikr third acquisition in the on-demand home beauty services space. In May, Quikr acquired Gurgaon based home beauty services provider Salosa for an undisclosed amount to bolster its presence in the segment. In July, Quikr rebranded Salosa as AtHomeDiva and launched a separate home beauty service under the QuikrServices vertical in August; the company acquired another home beauty service provider Zapluk.

Quikr had earlier committed an investment of Rs250 Crore to strengthen its home services vertical. On demand beauty is one of the fastest growing service categories. Stayglad was founded in May 2015. In June last year, the company raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Delhivery, and TracxnLabs. The company went on to raise an undisclosed amount in Series A funding round from Bessemer Venture Partners and former Chief Executive officer at Lakme Lever Pvt. Ltd.

In the home beauty segment, Quikr AtHomeDiva, currently operates in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Gurgaon and Hyderabad, competes with BigStylist, Belita, VanityCube, MyGlam, and The Home Salon among others. The acquisition is part of Quikr verticalization drive where it is focusing on five key business segments – automobiles, real estate, jobs, services and customer to customer sales.

Ford to buy Chariot

Ford Motor Co would acquire San Francisco based shuttle service Chariot with plans to expand the service globally, as the carmaker expands beyond auto manufacturing and takes another step toward becoming a mobility company.

The Detroit automaker Chariot plans to expand internationally, moving into five more markets in the next 18 months. Ford would set up a ‘city solutions’ team to work with cities worldwide on transportation and is trying to diversify into other modes of transportation from vehicles sold to consumers as new competitors from Alphabet’s Google to Uber are shaking up the traditional automotive industry.

The bet on mobility in congested, urban zones helps protect traditional carmakers as the advent of autonomous vehicles and the growing popularity of ride services like Uber and Lyft threaten car ownership. The company would launch its “Ford GoBike” bike sharing program next year in partnership with the company Motivate, helping to add new stations and up to 7000 bikes throughout San Francisco Bay Area by the end of 2018.

Motivate currently operates the existing urban bike system called Bay Area Bike Share, launched in 2013. Chariot operates 100 Ford Transit shuttles in the San Francisco Bay Area along 28 routes. The on-demand shuttles will use data to map out the best routes to serve the public needs. Ford has already begun small, pilot shuttle programs in Kansas City, Missouri, and Dearborn, Michigan. Other carmakers experimenting with mobility services include General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Volkswagen and BMW. 

Google buys Apigee

Alphabet Inc.’s Google is buying software company Apigee Group Corp, for roughly $625 Million, the latest move to bolster its offerings to corporate customers. Apigee specializes in Application Programming Interface or APIs – increasingly important software in modern commerce because they serve as the conduit for automated communication between company’s digital systems and their partners and customers.

For example, when a person buys a pair of jeans on a mobile app, that app typically uses an API to send the sale to the retailer’s computers, which in some cases then use other APIs to connect to suppliers and shippers. Or, rather than calling a pharmacy to send a prescription, doctors can now send the order via app that uses an API to connect with the pharmacy.

Apigee customers, which include AT&T Inc., Walgreen Co., and Burberry Group PLC, pay Apigee a fraction of a cent every time they tap the API. Google has been bolstering its pitch to companies to effectively store and run their digital businesses on Google servers with Google services. The search giant is betting this so called enterprise cloud business can be a major revenue driver over the next several years helping to diversify its business from advertising through Google trials rivals Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in that arena.

Apigee recorded revenue of $66.9 Million for the nine months ended April 30, an increase of 34% from the year earlier period. It posted a $32 Million loss. Apigee had more than 300 customers, an increase of 114 customers since the end of the quarter ended in April of 2015. 

Quikr Acquires Stepni

Online classifieds platform Quikr India Pvt. Ltd has acquired Stepni, a Bengaluru based start-up that connects vehicle owners with service providers for an undisclosed amount. Quikr has been driving a verticalization exercise, under which the company is focusing on five key business segments – automobiles, real estate, jobs, services, and customer-to-customer sales.

The acquisition of Stepni is expected to help Quikr strengthen car-related services under the QuikrCars vertical, as well as boost its services business, QuikrServices. Stepni, founded in October 2015, claims to have a network of more than 125 service centres across Bangalore. As a classified portal, Quikr has just one rival, OLX, which is backed by Naspers Ltd, a South African Mass media company.

In car segment, Quikr competes with the likes of Warburg Pincus backed CarTrade, which has so far raised at least $185 Million from investors, and CarDekho, which has raised at least $90 Million from Sequoia Capital and Google Capital. The real estate segment has businesses such as Housing, Magicbricks, PropTiger and others. Similarly, the Hyperlocal services segment has deep pocketed start-ups such as Housejoy and UrbanClap, while in the jobs category, the likes of Babajob and Aassan Jobs compete with Quikr.

Quikr is growing beyond a listing platform to a one-stop shop for used goods by enabling payments on its platform, as well as facilitating logistics, a move likely to throw open additional revenue channels at a time when a slowdown in external funding is prompting start-ups to reduce cash burn and focus on profitability. The company has been investing aggressively to build the five verticals by both acquiring companies and making strategic investments.

PropTiger buys PropRates

Online real estate advisor PropTiger.com has acquired Mumbai based start-up PropRates, which gathers real estate transaction data. The acquisition will enable PropTiger to offer consumers real-time data about property transaction, both sales and rentals, in Mumbai in order to determine the fair market value of a property.

News Corp backed PropTiger, which also owns real estate portal Makaan.com, has been acquiring start-ups to gain strength in areas such as data research and 3D reality. PropTiger bought a start-up called 3DPhy in August to strengthen 3D visualization. Last year, PropTiger bought Bengaluru based OoBI Media Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates a digital interaction design start-up under the Out of Box Interaction Brand.

PropTiger has been offering new products such as 3D realty and real estate data insights to widen its revenue stream from the current dependence on commissions from real estate transactions. While the 3D visualization service is yet to gain widespread acceptance in the Real estate market, other portals such as commonfloor.com and housing.com are also experimenting with the technology.

PropTiger plans to tap its wider user base to offer its real estate data insights. The PropRates service will initially be available in Mumbai and later extended to nine other cities under the next phase of expansion. 

Voonik acquires app Dekkoh

Voonik Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates the fashion app Voonik had acquired styling and personalization app Dekkoh for an undisclosed amount. Dekkoh connects over 200 stylists to consumers seeking fashion advice. It was designed as a fashion discovery platform that allows users to chat with a stylist and buy clothing and accessories that suits them.

Voonik is built around personalized fashion, to provide every customer a solution and opportunity to be fashionable every day. Dekkoh platform is doing the same through an engaged community of stylists and a highly data driven profiling and chatbots. In June, the Bengaluru based company also announced the acquisition of three other start-ups in the fashion space – Zohraa, Styl and Picksilk to enter the premium e-commerce segment.

Before these, Voonik also acqui-hired Trialkart, Getsy and a team from apparel rental start-up Klozee. Voonik runs a lean marketplace business where it operates without inventory and fulfillment centres. It claims to have more than 12 Million registered users, with 10 Million app downloads. On the supply side, it has more than 15 Million products from more than 20,000 sellers.

The company last raised $20 Million in Series B funding led by Sequoia India, Times Internet, Seedfund, Beenos, Beenext, Parkwood Bespin, Tancom Investments and Freecharge.