Cognizant acquires Idea Couture

Cognizant had acquired Idea Couture, a privately held firm that offers a broad range of digital innovation, strategy, design and technology services. Based in Toronto, and with offices in Europe, US and Latin America, the firm has more than 170 social scientists, strategists, anthropologists, user experience experts, designers and connected product developers who serve leading companies across multiple industries including Samsung, PepsiCo, Cox, Citi Ventures, Kroger, ConAgra Foods and others.

New generation of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, mobility, business analytics, cloud services and the Internet of Things are disrupting every industry. Enterprises are looking to understand and apply these next generation technologies to front office customer experience, middle office business process and back office IT Systems, reshaping how they interact with customers, employees, partners and others in the digital economy.

Idea Couture will become a part of Cognizant digital works, specializes in designing and prototyping products, services and business models that take advantage of the latest technologies. To help clients succeed in this new economy, Cognizant digital works brings together human insight, strategy, design, technology and industry expertise to create innovative solutions at enterprise scale.

Quikr acquires Hiree

Online classified company Quikr India Pvt. Ltd has acquired Bengaluru based online recruitment platform Hiree (Abhiman Technologies Pvt. Ltd) for an undisclosed amount in an attempt to bolster its job listings business, Quikr Jobs.

Following the acquisition, Hiree will merge with Quikr and the Hiree team will be adsorbed into Quikr. The combined entity will have more than 4 Million active jobseekers. Hiree was founded in May 2013 and connected potential jobseekers serving notice periods with prospective employers in an attempt to fast track the recruitment process by enlisting active jobseekers.

In May 2015, the company rebranded itself as Hiree and allowed listings by all categories of jobseekers in an attempt to increase its target audience. The company had raised INR 20 crore from IDG Ventures and a clutch of angel investors. However, the company had a bumpy ride as overall hiring, especially by startups, slowed down after startups scaled back to conserve cash and started focusing on streamlining their operations with the existing workforce following a slowdown in investments.

As a classified portal, Quikr has just one rival, OLX, which is backed by Naspers Ltd, a South African mass media company. Tiger Global Management backed Quikr which has so far raised about $346 Million from venture capital firms has been investing aggressively to build these verticals by both acquiring companies and making strategic investments. In May, Quikr acquired Gurgaon based home beauty services provider Salosa for an undisclosed amount to bolster its home services business.

Oracle buys NetSuite

Oracle will acquire NetSuite for about $9.3 Billion, or $109 per share in all cash deal. Both Oracle and NetSuite’s cloud service offerings aimed at enterprise customers will continue to operate and coexist in the marketplace forever.

Eighteen year old NetSuite claims a dominant position in the cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) space, which includes offerings to help businesses track supply and demand, inventory, accounting, customer relationships (CRM) and HR. The ERP industry has been an active space for M&A and general consolidation over the past few years, and Oracle in general has been an aggressive acquirer of smaller companies throughout 2016, with recent pick-ups including Opower and Textura.

Oracle acquisition of NetSuite dwarfs its previous 2016 acquisitions in total deal value, though it still ranks below the all-time leader, PeopleSoft, which Oracle acquired for a heady $10.3 Billion way back in 2004, when such stratospheric values were even more uncommon. While their service offerings are similar, NetSuite offers Oracle access to companies sized smaller than its traditional clientele, and could also give it some additional competitive edge in taking on primary rival Salesforce.

Flipkart’s Myntra acquires Jabong

Flipkart Ltd has acquired Jabong through its unit Myntra in a cut-price deal that values the online fashion store at $70 Million, moving to preserve its position as India’s No 1 e-commerce marketplace in the face of an onslaught by Amazon India. Jabong had been valued at $508 Million in 2013.

For Flipkart – Myntra, the acquisition of Jabong will boost sales at a time when Flipkart is struggling to revive growth and struggling to protect its leadership in a market where Amazon has made rapid strides. Jabong offers more than 1500 international high street brands, sports labels, Indian ethnic and designer labels and over 15,000 styles from more than 1000 sellers.

In September 2014, German investor Rocket Internet merged Jabong with four other online fashion retailers in Latin America, Russia, the Middle East, South East Asia and Australia to create GFG. GFG, which is jointly owned by Rocket Internet and AB Kinnevik, houses the German e-commerce company’s fashion businesses from emerging countries, including Jabong, Latin America Dafiti, Russia Lamoda, Namshi in the Middle East and Zalora in South East Asia and Australia.

Earlier this month, Jabong expedited its sale process as Kinnevik and Rocket Internet were reluctant to pump more capital into the company in a gloomy e-commerce market. Jabong, which matched larger rival Myntra in sales until early 2014, has ceded market share since then, as Myntra parent Flipkart spent lavishly on advertising and discounts to lure customers.

Verizon buys Yahoo

After a month long bidding process and many layoffs, Yahoo has finally found a buyer. Verizon (which owns AOL, which owns TechCrunch) is officially acquiring Yahoo core business for $4.83 Billion in cash, which includes Yahoo advertising, content, search and mobile activities.

The purchase will boost Verizon AOL Internet business, which it bought last year for $4.4 Billion as it gains access to Yahoo’s ad technology tools, BrightRoll and Flurry and search, mail and messenger assets. Verizon, the No 1 U.S. wireless operator, has in recent years looked to mobile video and advertising for new sources of revenue in an over saturated wireless market. It has also scaled back on its Fios TV and internet service.

Verizon could combine data from AOL and Yahoo users in addition to its more than 100 Million wireless customers to create data to help advertisers specifically target users based on online behavior and preferences. Yahoo will continue as an independent company until the deal receives shareholder and regulatory.

The sale doesn’t include Yahoo’s cash, its shares in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, shares in Yahoo Japan, Yahoo convertible notes, certain minority investments or Yahoo non-core patents. Verizon prevailed over rival bidders for Yahoo, including AT&T Inc. and private equity firm TPG Capital Management LP.

Aditya Birla Fashion Acquires Forever 21

In a $26 Million dollar transaction, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail has become the joint venture partner of US fast fashion major, Forever 21, replacing DLF Brands. The company is acquiring Forever 21 exclusive offline and online rights in the country, including its existing store network.

The apparel company, which currently has 12 stores across Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, had been dissatisfied with the pace of growth and consequently opted to team up with ABFRL. The Company had originally planned for 50 stores in five years, in addition to Chandigarh; the US firm is planning stores in other Tier II cities such as Coimbatore and Surat.

While the US firm also has its own e-commerce platform, it currently sells its clothes and accessories through the fashion portal Myntra. The JV between Forever 21 and DLF brands was pitching perfect. Forever 21 was to occupy space at a competitive rent in DLF own malls. But over a period of time, it turned out that DLF malls were not always the most lucrative shopping destinations.

That meant Forever 21 needed to have a different expansion plan, given that competing brands like H&M and GAP are aggressively multiplying store presence. This is the third major brand that DLF Brands has let go. Others include Mango and Sephora. At the moment Mothercare, Sunglass Hut and Claires are the prominent international brands that DLF still has under its umbrella.

Google to buy Moodstocks

Google announced a deal to buy Moodstocks, a French startup behind technology that helps smartphone recognize whatever they are aimed at. Moodstocks caught the US technology giant eye for its work in computer vision and machine learning, as well for accomplishments in enabling smartphones or other mobile devices to recognize images and objects.

Google is among Silicon Valley titans investing in ways to get computers to see and understand the world around them the way people do. Machine learning has been woven into an array of Google offerings, such as its free language translation and photo services. Google and its parent Alphabet are expected to integrate the image search team in the artificial intelligence efforts.

Google Home, about the size of a stout vase, will hit the market later this year and will incorporate new virtual assistant software. When home hits, it will challenge Amazon Echo voice controlled assistants that have proven to be a hit since the Seattle based online retail colossus unveiled them two years ago.

Many Internet companies are exploring the promise of artificial intelligence, for example, smartphone applications that can learn a user’s habits and anticipate searches and requests. Microsoft, Apple and Google have each created their own virtual assistants for users.

Team Lease acquires ASAP Info Systems

Leading staffing company TeamLease services Ltd has acquired Bengaluru based ASAP Info Systems Pvt. Ltd for Rs. 67 crore. The company said the acquisition will help it expand its footprint in the core IT hiring space. ASAP Info Systems has over 1000 associates and 171 core employees.

This transaction creates an opening balance for TeamLease to build an IT staffing business. The acquisition is also in sync with strategy of margin expansion through new product verticals and new client segments. The transaction will be done through TeamLease wholly owned subsidiary, TeamLease staffing Services Private Limited. The transaction will be immediately accretive to TeamLease earnings per share.

TeamLease core business is to provide temporary staffing solutions for companies across sectors. Its clients include Microsoft India, LG Electronics, ICICI Lombard, Bata India and Larsen & Toubro. TeamLease was also the first temporary staffing solutions firm to get listed on the Indian bourses, earlier this year. TeamLease has for long serviced IT Companies for non-IT staffing positions, but now expects ASAP Info Systems to help continue expansion in the space after merging its current offices.