News Corp buys VCCircle

News Corporation is an American multinational mass media corporation headquartered in New York City. It was the second largest media group in 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world’s third largest in entertainment in 2009. VCCircle is an Indian Information services group with presence in online business news, data, events, and training for private equity and venture capital fund managers.

VCCircle currently employs about 100 people and is owned by the New Delhi headquartered Mosaic Ventures Private limited with offices in Noida, Mumbai, and Bangalore. The company is recently acquired by News Corp. This was the third investment of News Corp in India. It had previously invested in financial advisory start-up firm BigDecisions.com and realty portal PropTiger.com. News Corp had acquired all networks of VCCircle which includes VCCircle.com, Techcircle.in, VCCEdge, and VCCircle Training.

The VCCircle acquisition builds on News Corp recent digital investments in India. In November, News Corp acquired a 25 percent stake in PropTiger.com, India’s leading online residential real estate platform. In December, News Corp acquired Big Decisions.com, which aims to help Indian consumers make smarter financial decisions through interactive, decision making tools powered by sophisticated algorithms and data.

News Corp also has a presence in India through its Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal, and Harper Collins Publisher Business. News Corp is a global, diversified media, and information Services Company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content to consumers throughout the world. The company comprises business across a range of Media. 

Facebook buys TheFind.com

TheFind.com is a discovery shopping search Engine targeting lifestyle product such as apparel, accessories, home, and garden, fitness, kids and family and beauty. It was founded in 2006 as FatLens Inc., initially specializing in event tickets search but later expanding to product search. The site was re-launched as TheFind.com with an emphasis on discovery shopping search or lifestyle products.

TheFind is the only way to search the entire shoppable web. Its proprietary search engine lets you type in something you are looking to purchase like a white dress, or a specific type of chair, and it will return results from online retailers such as Target, Nordstrom, Zappos, Amazon, Etsy, eBay and more. If consumers want to search locally, TheFind can return results within their geographic activity.

Consumers can easily compare prices between different retailers and save themselves time by not having to scour each individual site. TheFind search engine will shut down as the company merges with its new owner. This service is used by more than 15 Million shoppers. Just last month, Facebook launched a special ad unit designed to highlight specific products a merchant is trying to sell. TheFind could help Facebook better match not just a company to a user, but make sure the products shown in the ads are things they are likely to buy.

TheFind.com is a privately held company in California, and received funding from Redpoint Ventures, Lightspeed venture partners, and Cambrian Ventures. In 2007, they received an additional $15 Million funding led by Bain Capital Ventures.

Flipkart acquires AdIQuity

Indian E-commerce giant made its first acquisition of the year; acquired Bengaluru based AdIQuity, a global mobile ad network enabling app developers and mobile publisher’s revenues from their mobile inventory. AdIQuity is backed by VC’s like Sequoia Capital and has raised $15 Million across two rounds in 2006 and 2008.

Founded by IITian Anurag Dod, AdIQuity also facilitates ad agencies, ad networks, DSPs and other media buyers to acquire global mobile traffic. The nine year old venture claims to have 150 Million monthly active users in its network spread across 200 countries generating 25 Billion ad impressions every month. The country’s most valuable startup, valued at $11 Billion is seeking to expand its presence and capabilities by the inorganic way this year. The AdIQuity acquisition will enable.

Flipkart to boost its external marketing capabilities as it aims to diversify into online advertising and brand consulting for vendors. The additional revenues from these verticals would help Flipkart in becoming profitable prior to a listing. Having kicked off the acquisitions, it would be worth looking at the newer capabilities the company would be looking at. Last year, to strengthen its fashion vertical it bought out Myntra in one of the largest deals in the startup space.

Recently, Snapdeal acquired premium and luxury fashion retailer, Exclusively.com and Wishpicker.com, an online gift recommendation portal. While Amazon picked up a minority stake in Gift card Technology and retail firm, QwikCilver Solutions.

PayPal buys Mobile Payment startup Paydiant

PayPal is an American international Digital wallet based e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders. PayPal is one of the world’s largest internet payment companies. The company operates as an acquirer, performing payment processing for online vendors, auction sites and other commercial users, for which it charges a fee.

The eBay payment unit plans to acquire Paydiant, a payments startup that licenses a technology platform used by big retail chains to create their own branded mobile wallet apps. PayPal will pay around $280 Million for the startup. Founded in 2010, Paydiant white label platform is used by Subway and other retailers and banks to add payment, loyalty, and digital coupon capabilities to their own apps. Its customer list also includes MCX, a consortium of big box retailers led by Walmart that says it will launch its mobile wallet app this year.

Competition in the mobile wallet sector is heating up with the launch of Apple Pay, Samsung offering Samsung Pay beginning this summer and Google teaming up with Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile to have its Google Wallet payment service built into Android phones sold by those carriers. EBay has been planning to spin off its PayPal payment business in the second half of this year.

In 2013, PayPal had acquired mobile payment service Venmo. PayPal has also announced that its Here card reader for mobile payments will soon support the wireless payment technology. The NFC enabled version of Here will pair with phones via Bluetooth, and supports traditional chip and PIN methods. The new NFC enabled PayPal Here Chip and PIN card reader, which will start rolling out in the UK and Australia this summer, and in the US later this year.

Hewlett Packard acquires Aruba Networks

Hewlett Packard Company is an American Multinational Information Technology corporation. It provides software, hardware, and services to consumers, small and medium sized business and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors. Aruba Networks is a networking vendor selling enterprise wireless LAN and edge access networking equipment. Their core products are access points, mobility controllers, and network management software through their Airwave Management platform product.

Recently, HP acquired Aruba Networks in a deal valued at $2.7 Billion. The deal will expand HP presence in the mobile market, supporting faster speeds and access to cloud applications. Each company’s board of directors has approved the deal. HP has had a dismal record for big acquisitions, having written off multibillion dollar acquisitions of Autonomy and technology outsourcing provider EDS, which it bought in 2008.

HP, which has struggled to adapt to the new era of mobile and online computing, plans to shift into two listed companies this year, separating its computer and printer businesses from its corporate hardware and services operations. Aruba Networks was founded in 2002 and makes the hardware and software used to build Wi-Fi networks for customers. It currently maintains around 1,800 employees and saw revenues of $729 Million in fiscal 2014.

Aruba clients include KFC, University of Miami/University of Miami Health System, and Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. Aruba has offices throughout the Americas, Asia-Pacific/Japan and the Europe/Middle East/Africa Regions. The company raised its last series D round back in 2006 from investors such as ARTIS ventures, Trinity Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, and Focus Ventures.  

Reliance Infrastructure acquires Pipavav Defence

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., formerly known as Reliance Energy and before that as Bombay Suburban Electric Supply is India’s largest private sector enterprise power utility. It is part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates. The company is the sole distributor of electricity to consumers in the suburbs of Mumbai. It also runs power generation, transmission, and distribution businesses in other parts of Maharashtra, Goa, and Andhra Pradesh.

Reliance Infrastructure, through its subsidiary Reliance Defence Systems Pvt. Ltd., will acquire 130 Million equity shares from the promoters of Pipavav Defence at a price of Rs 63 per share. After the acquisition, Reliance Defence Systems will make an open offer to acquire an additional 26% stake in the company from public shareholders at Rs 66 per share. JM Financial Institutional Securities Ltd will be the sole financial advisor and the manager to the open offer.

Pipavav Defence is the India first world class integrated Defence production, ship building and offshore infrastructure company. It is the country’s first private sector company to get the license and contracts to build frontline warships for Indian Navy. It has one of the world’s largest infrastructure facilities. It is spreads over 841 acres of land on the Gujarat coast and has India’s largest and one of the world’s largest dry docks, measuring 662 meters in length and 65 meters in width.

India is one of the largest spenders on defence equipment. According to government estimates, the cumulative defence budget, consisting of capital and revenue expenditure, has increased 32% between fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2014 to Rs 2.04 Lakh crore. About 70% of India’s defence requirements are met through imports and the rest through local production by state owned companies.

EXL Service to buy analytics company RPM

EXL service is a provider IT services, decision analytics, operation management, outsourcing, and transformation services company. It is primarily engaged in providing a range of outsourcing services, business process outsourcing, and infrastructure services. EXL services are structured around insurance, banking, financial services, utilities, healthcare, transportation, and travel industries.

The company said it is buying analytics firm RPM Direct for about $74 Million to expand its portfolio. EXL said the deal involves $47 Million in cash up to $23 Million of contingent cash consideration and $4 Million of restricted stock. The acquisition likely to close by the end of March is expected to add to EXL adjusted earnings per share. RPM will become the part of EXL Analytics Group.

RPM possesses a unique combination of strong analytical and data management capabilities with deep industry expertise in the P&C, life and health insurance markets. RPM technology helps analyze large consumer sets to segment populations, predict response rates, forecast customer lifetime value, design, and execute targeted, multi-channel marketing campaigns. The firm’s focus areas include the insurance industry.

RPM maintains its own database and supports data on over 250 Million consumers and 120 Million US households. The quantity and unique combination of data attributes managed by RPM drives optimal, data driven decision making and enable it to build models that analyze prospects individually. RPM employs proprietary predictive analytics and domain specific pattern recognition algorithms to deliver results through a flexible, on demand service model. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.

Valeant to buy Salix

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. is a publicly traded pharmaceutical company based in Montreal, Canada. The company focuses on neurology, dermatology, and infectious disease with several drugs in late stage clinical trials and several currently on the market. Salix Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a specialist American Pharmaceutical Company. It develops drugs and medical devices that prevent and treat various gastrointestinal disorders.

In a most recent deal, Valeant announced a $14.6 Billion cash deal to acquire Salix. While, Valeant has completed roughly 40 acquisitions since 2008, giving it a diversified portfolio of some 1,500 drugs in every conceivable branch of medicine. In spite of Valeant more than doubling its share count over the last five years to help fund its acquisitions, it has a truckload of debt. The company trimmed a total of $1 Billion from its previous $16.3 Billion debt load.

The company said the deal had an enterprise value of $14.5 Billion, which would include Salix’s debt and any cash on hand. Valeant will pay $158.00 a share, valuing all cash transaction at about $10.1 Billion. The merger is expected to yield more than $500 Million in annual cost savings within six months.

The deal is the largest ever for Valeant, which lost a takeover contest for Allergan Inc. last year. Valeant also released its fourth quarter results with the announcement, posting net income of $534.1 Million, or $1.56 per diluted share, compared to $125.0 Million in the year earlier period, or 36 cents per diluted share. Revenue rose to $2.28 Billion, up from $2.06 Billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. 

India first 3D-printed Humanoid Robot

World is moving forward rapidly in technology. Recently in Techfest at IIT Bombay, India saw its first 3D-Printed Humanoid Robot. A humanoid robot is defined as one that is shaped to resemble a human. Manav is two feet tall and looks like an oversized toy. Built with 21 sensors, two cameras in its eye sockets and two mikes on either side of its head, Manav is India’s first 3D printed humanoid robot.

Weighing 2kg, Manav which means man in Sanskrit, has built in vision and sound processing capability, allowing it to talk and act exactly like a human. Manav built in processor and pre-programmed sensors allow it to perform tasks such as walking, talking, and dancing without the help of a laptop. It also has two degrees of freedom in its head and neck, allowing it to move its head sideways and up and down. Diwakar Vaish designs it.

Manav outer frame is made of plastic and it was 3D printed from Buildkart Retail Pvt Ltd. It uses an open soured code so that it can also be taught to learn and respond like a human child. It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and has a rechargeable lithium polymer battery that can work for an hour with a single full charge. It is priced between Rs. 1.5-2 Lakh. It is primarily meant for research purposes.

Vaish team is also working on smart home-automated solution using robotic technology that can sense human feelings and perform tasks without being told like opening doors, turning on the air conditioning sensing an increase in body temperature, and switching on the TV to a channel of choice. They are also working on a wearable mind sensor headset that can track a person attention span and concentration levels, can also read brainwaves. He has been recognized by former presidents Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil, and won the award for the “Best Innovative Researcher 2012.”

The government incentives to the manufacturing industry to “Make in India”, similar to its incentives to the hardware industry, could boost the use of robotics in India, to bridge the gap between the technological progress in robotics in India and the rest of the world.

XCOR ties up with Fortpoint

XCOR Aerospace is an American private rocket engine and spaceflight development company based on the Mojave Spaceport in Mojave, California. XCOR was formed members of the Rotary Rocket Engine development team in September, 1999. XCOR is headed by Jeff Greason.

XCOR Aerospace is developing the tourist rocket plane, has tied up with Mumbai based Fortpoint Automotive to woo more Indians to take its space tours, expected to take off next year. A few Indians have booked their tickets in a passenger spacecraft that will blast them into space, 100 km beyond earth’s gravity, to a spot from where one can see the curvature of our planet, shelling out about Rs 62 Lakh or $100,000.

The idea of space tourism took off in 2004 when British entrepreneur Richard Branson launched Virgin Galactic to start a space travel programme. About 800 people including Stephen Hawking, Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie, and Kerala based businessman Santosh George Kulangara have already booked their ticket to board Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two, which costs $250,000, which is about Rs 1.55 crore.

According to Virgin Galactic, many Indians have shown interest in its space tour. But it is not clear who will start commercial operations first, particularly after a SpaceShip Two crashed in November last during a test flight, bringing a lot of latent apprehensions to the fore. As part of XCOR move to woo Indians for its space tour programme, a full scale model of its spacecraft, the Lynx, will be displayed at the Luxury Festival, organized by Quintessentially Lifestyle Services India in Delhi in April. 

Mylan acquired Famy Care Business

Mylan Inc. is a global generic and specialty pharmaceuticals company headquartered in Pennsylvania. In 2007, Mylan acquired a controlling interest in India based Matrix Laboratories Limited, a top producer of generic drugs, and the generic business of Germany based Merck KGaA. Through these acquisitions, Mylan has grown from the third largest generic company in United States to the second largest generic and Pharmaceuticals Company in the world.

Recently, Indian subsidiary Mylan Laboratories Limited, signed a definitive agreement to acquire certain female health care businesses from Famy Care Limited, a specialty women’s health care company with global leadership in generic oral contraceptive products for $750 Million in cash plus additional contingent payments of up to $50 Million. The acquisition will build on Mylan existing partnerships with Famy care in North America, Europe, and Australia.

Famy Care, headquartered in Mumbai, India, offers a comprehensive range of women’s health products including oral and injectable contraceptives, intra-uterine devices (IUDs), tubal rings, and hormone replacement therapy products. More than 15% of the world women using oral contraceptive pills today use a Famy Care product. It is the world largest producer of generic OCPs, with four high quality-manufacturing facilities in India, two of which have been approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Union.

Famy Care is the first generics company to have received prequalification from the WHO for hormonal contraceptives. This manufacturing base represents one of the lowest cost and largest dedicated to OCPs globally, and brings Mylan Strong capabilities in OCP cycles, injectable, IUDs, and tubal rings. Famy Care has a strong presence in the private, institutional, and non-governmental organization sectors and markets its products in more than 90 countries around the world.

Snapdeal buys Exclusively.com

Snapdeal aims to strengthen its fashion business, looking to touch $2 Billion in gross merchandise value in the fashion category this year. Online marketplace, Snapdeal acquired Exclusively.com, an online portal for premium and luxury fashion, for an undisclosed amount. Luxury products and services are a $14 Billion market in India, growing at 30% year on year. More than 70% consumers want to shop for luxury products in India.

The acquisition of Exclusively is similar to that of domestic e-commerce firm and Snapdeal rival, Flipkart acquiring online fashion retailer Myntra for an estimated Rs 2,000 crore deal in May last year, making it the biggest consolidation in the e-commerce space in India. The company has brought Exclusively.com to provide its over 40 Million users access to widest range of aspirational, high-end products and services.

Under this partnership, Exclusively.com will complement Snapdeal existing ecosystem and will provide a consolidated offering for the luxury and lifestyle shopper, making it India’s first online luxury mall. Luxury and premium fashion brands across the world can now open stores in Exclusively.com online luxury mall. Exclusively.com will continue to function as an independent site and all aspects of Exclusively.com online shopping experience will remain intact, with new collection and service augmentations in the pipeline.

The firm expects the luxury products portal to reach a GMV of USD 100 Million by 2015 end and USD 1 Billion in next three years. Exclusively.com today retails hundreds of India’s leading designers on its site, including Manish Malhotra, Tarun Tahiliani, Manish Arora, Ritu Kumar, and Varun Bahl. This year, Exclusively.com plans to launch leading international luxury brands and designers on the site. Snapdeal has so far risen over USD 1.5 Billion from a clutch of investors that include Japan Softbank and Ratan Tata.

Infosys Buys Panaya

Infosys is an Indian Multinational corporation that provides business consulting, information technology, software engineering, and outsourcing services. It is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. Panaya is American software as a Service (SaaS) company that provides cloud based quality management services for enterprise applications worldwide. Its services run on the Amazon Product Advertising API.

Infosys announced that it would buy automation technology company Panaya Inc, at an enterprise value of about $200 Million, as the third largest IT Company in the world looks to boost competitiveness and margins. Panaya Technology would help it to bring automation to several service lines through software as a service model, reducing risks, costs, and the time taken to bring services in the market.

For $8.25 Billion turnover Infosys, which has a cash reserve of $5.4 Billion, this is the second largest acquisition after the September 2012 buyout of Switzerland based SAP services company Loadstone Management Consultancy for $345 Million. Infosys is acquiring Panaya at a time when IT services companies are laying greater emphasis on automation as workforce optimization holds key to profitability for the industry which is primarily driven by human resource.

Infosys and its peers TCS, Wipro, and HCL have been deploying automation to enhance delivery to their clients. Infosys has been traditionally shy of acquisition making less than half a dozen buyouts in its existence of over 33 years most of which were small with deal size below $50 Million. Infosys has been making big bets on automation and other new technology like artificial intelligence and cloud based services as the company tries to regain some lost ground from rivals like Tata Consultancy Services.

Expedia Buys Orbitz

Expedia Inc is the American based parent company to several global online travel brands including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Trivago etc. Expedia Inc companies operate more than 100 branded points of sale in more than 60 countries. Expedia also power travel bookings for over 10,000 partners such as airlines and hotels, consumer brands, and high traffic websites.

Orbitz Worldwide Inc is a company that operates a web site used to research, plan, and book travel. Recently, Expedia Inc bought Orbitz for about $1.6 Billion in cash to bring on the rival programmers and widen its consumer base. Expedia will be buying both Orbitz portal plus many other brands that it owns. The deal speaks to ongoing consolidation in the market, but also Expedia bigger competitive threat in the form of Priceline, which owns Kayak and other large travel properties, and the fact that perhaps Orbitz saw the consolidation written on the wall itself.

With the Orbitz Acquisition, Expedia would become the biggest player in the travel retail area with a market share of more than 6%, just ahead of Priceline nearly 5% share. That could be bad news for airlines and hotels that will likely lose leverage in negotiations with the sites. Hotels will be under pressure to list their rooms on the sites because of their reach. Expedia in 2014 saw the number of bookings rise 28 percent to 50 Million, and reported a profit of $398 Million. 

Google Acquires Odysee

Google may be soon adding more offline and private sharing features to its Google+ Photos service. It had acquired Odysee, an iOS and Android app that let users automatically back up photos and videos taken on their cameras or tablets to their home computers. It also let users set up private, automatic sharing with other people, and it had an API for integrating the service with other apps.

Google might launch Photos as a standalone service, independent of Google+. Adding in options to save photos offline, and more features to better control how you share pictures, are logical additions that would give Google Photos service a more rounded offering, and help differentiate it more from other competing photo services. Others in the crowded space of online photo services include Facebook/Instagram, Yahoo Flickr, Dropbox and many more.

Odysee, which let people log in with Facebook or by creating an account, was an app created by Nimbuz, co-founded by Raghavan Menon and Shiva Javalagi. Both founders have background in Networking, Algorithms, Caching, and Embedded Software. Menon previously co-founded chip designer Ingot Systems, which was acquired by Virage Logic, later acquired by Synopsys.

Odysee keeps copies of recently accessed photos and videos online at high quality. Odysee keeps copies of photos and videos that are unlikely to access online at lower quality similar to that on Instagram or Facebook. It had its own “follower and following network” that was based around the idea of adding a small group of close family and friends who would also be on the app, with the option of sharing more pictures to “non-Odysee users” by way of URL links rather than embeds. It was build around a freemium model free for the first year, and the $5/year thereafter.

Olacabs to acquire TaxiForSure

Taxi aggregators are readying themselves to take on the global giant Uber, once the regulatory issues are cleared in India. Olacabs, the Indian startup supported by Japan Softbank’s is buying its rival TaxiForSure, signaling consolidation in the nascent taxi app market. Key investors in TaxiForSure include Accel partners and Qualcomm.

The deal, which is estimated to be worth around $200-250 Million, will be second largest deal in the customer internet space after Flipkart $370 Million acquisition of Myntra. It will make Olacabs the leader in taxi aggregator business in India valued at $2 Billion. Ola is likely to pay cash and also offer stock to acquire TaxiForSure. Apart from taking on the $40 billion Uber, the move is also aimed at lowering the cost.

Globally too taxi aggregators are in talks to form an international alliance against Uber, potentially linking up regional players including Olacabs, Singapore Grab Taxi, and San Francisco based Flywheel. Though, none of the Indian Taxi aggregator companies have started making profit yet, TaxiForSure, run by Bangalore based Senrendipity Infolabs, seems to be in urgent need for financial support.

Olacabs, cofounded by IIT Bombay alumnus Bhavish Aggarwal and his college mate Ankit Bhati, received $210 million in funding led by Japanese communications conglomerate Softbank in October. TaxiForSure had snagged $30 Million from Accel and Qualcomm, but Olacabs fundraising demonstrated that momentum had swung its way. IIM Ahmedabad graduates Raghunandan G and Aprameya Radhakrishna found TaxiForSure.

Foodpanda Acquires JustEat

Online food delivery market place Foodpanda.in had acquired food-ordering portal Just Eat India in all stock deal. Just Eat Plc., the largest shareholder in Achindra Online Marketing Pvt. Ltd that runs Just Eat India, will receive a minority stake in Foodpanda.in as part of the deal. This is seventh food startups Foodpanda bought across Asia.

UK based JustEat will acquire undisclosed stake in combined entity, which will be India’s largest food-ordering provider with a presence in more than 200 cities across 12,000 restaurants. The online food services market is valued at over $14 Billion in India and $371 Billion globally. Zomato, which is expected to leverage its listings of about 50,000 restaurants in India by building its own ordering platform globally, is likely to pose the biggest challenge to Rocket Internet, backed Foodpanda.

The purchase is second in four months by the company, which in November acquired food delivery business TastyKhana.in for an undisclosed amount. The latest deal comes in at a time when restaurant search portal Zomato is looking to enter the online food ordering space in India. Just Eat Plc., was launched in Denmark in 2001 and was traded publicly on the London Stock Exchange. It entered India by acquiring a majority stake in Hungry in Bengaluru in 2011. Hungry was launched in 2006. Today, the company collaborates with more than 2000 restaurants.

Foodpanda.in was launched in India in May 2012, operates in 39 countries across five continents. Together with TastyKhana and JustEat, the brand is present in more than 200 cities and partners over 12,000 restaurants. The company currently gets more than 100,000 unique visitors daily on its platform. In August last year, Foodpanda raised $60 Million in new financing form a group of investors and existing backer Rocket Internet.

Google Buys Impermium

Impermium is a cyber security startup based company in Redwood City, California, which provides anti-spam and account protection services for internet web sites. Mark Risher, Vishwanath Ramarao, and Naveen Jamal, who met while managing the Anti-spam systems for Yahoo Mail, founded the company in 2010. The startup is a security firm that builds products for websites that deals with cyber security.

Impermium had earlier received $9 Million in funding from a host of venture firms including Accel partners, AOL ventures, Charles River Ventures, and Highland Capital Partners. The company says it has 300,000 clients, including CNN, Tumblr, Pinterest, ESPN, Typepad, and Washington Post. This is Google third acquisition at the start of the year with previous deals including smart thermostat maker, Nest and developer of Timely Alarm Clock, Bitspin.

Google was last seen purchasing smart phone startup Nest for $3.2 Billion, the amount which Google had paying completely in cash. The company is best known for its products like Nest Learning Thermostat and Protect Smoke detector. Facebook had recently purchased its very first Indian Startup, Little Eye Labs. The company officially announced it had been taken over earlier this month. Little Eye Labs essentially creates tools to help mobile app developers to optimize their products performance. Whether for the technology or the talent the interest of big Internet giants in Indian startups is great news for the local startup community.

Dentsu Aegis acquires WATConsult

Dentsu Inc. is an International advertising and public relations company whose headquarters are located in the Dentsu Building in the Shiodome district of Minato, Tokyo. The Company origins as a media representative producing the first newspaper advertisements and the first television commercials in Japan. The company now offers a range of services, from traditional and creative marketing to specialty disciplines such as sports marketing, digital contents, PR, and a growing range of communication services.

Dentsu reached an agreement with the principal shareholder of Mumbai based WATConsult, a digital agency, to acquire a 90% stake in the company, which will ultimately be increased in steps to 100%. WATConsult will become part of Isobar, one of the Dentsu Group’s global network brands, and will be referred to as WATConsult linked by Isobar.

WATConsult, founded in 2007 as a Social Media agency, has developed into a digital agency offering services such as digital creative, digital media planning and buying, development of campaigns that utilize social and digital media, production of digital media applications and digital video, and online reputation management. Its clients include Godrej, Tata, Bajaj, Mahindra, SAP, and Nikon. WATConsult employs more than 160 people across the Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata and has annual revenue of nearly Rs. 30 Crore.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Dentsu Inc, the Dentsu India Group comprises three standalone full service-advertising agencies – Dentsu Communications, Dentsu Marcom, and Dentsu Creative Impact as well as Dentsu Media and Dentsu Digital. Tokyo based Dentsu Inc has a presence in 24 countries across five continents. In 2012, it acquired 51 percent stake in Mumbai based advertising agency Taproot India Communication Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed sum.

Zomato acquires Turkey based Mekanist

Online restaurant search service company Zomato continues to be on an acquisition store. The firm, launched in 2008 and valued at $660 Million, announced it had acquired Turkey based Mekanist. However, the company did not disclose the size of the deal, but it is estimated at $35-50 Million. This is Zomato seventh acquisition in last seven months.

A few days earlier, Zomato had acquired Urbanspoon in the US for $52 Million. With the acquisition of Mekanist, the restaurant search company will expand into several cities in Turkey. Its coverage will increase from about 27,500 restaurants in Istanbul and Ankara to about 75,000 across the country, serving users about three million times a month.

Ali Servet Eyuboglu and Eren founded Mekanist eight years ago. Zomato had forayed into Turkey in November 2013, making its website and apps available to users in Turkish and English. Through the next two months, the company will roll out an integrated product in the two languages for users and business owners. Zomato has a team of 27 people in Turkey; most of them who are is based out of Istanbul.

Mekanist has about 190,000 listed establishments such as popular restaurants, cafes, and bars, along with about 500,000 reviews from its 1.5 Million signed up user base on the web and mobile platforms. Mekanist entire traffic and restaurant related content would now move to Zomato, while Mekanist app users will be able to use the Zomato app. In addition, restaurants could benefit from Zomato hyper-local advertising model and target customers. The ‘Zomato for Business’ app suite will help restaurant businesses connect and engage with customers.