FlexiLoans acquires CreditPeriod

Online lending platform FlexiLoans has acquired Mumbai based supply chain finance startup, CreditPeriod for an undisclosed amount. With this move, FlexiLoans attempts to strengthen its supply chain finance offering.

Founded in 2015 by CreditPeriod initially functioned as a B2B ecommerce platform catering to the raw material procurement needs of SMEs. Now a fintech startup, it allows SME buyers to procure goods/services on credit while ensuring that sellers get their money upfront, thereby eliminating credit risk and enabling instant liquidity.

FlexiLoans started operations in January 2016 and was founded by four Indian School of Business alumni. FlexiLoans’ proprietary credit engine allows the startup to disburse a loan within 24 hours. It has already partnered with over 20 national digital marketplaces and organizations like Flipkart, Ola, ShopClues and Jabong etc. The company plans to double loan disbursal in the next one year and tap 200 cities.

As per an IBEF report, the fintech market in India is estimated to double to $2.4 Bn by 2020 from around $1.2 Bn at present. In February 2017, Bengaluru-based online lending platform Capital Float raised about $2.5 Mn (INR 17 Cr) from IFMR Capital Finance and its alternative investment fund. Earlier this month, Pune-based fintech startup EarlySalary rose $4 Mn Series A funding from IDG Ventures India (IDGVI) and Dewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd (DHFL). Other startups in this segment include KountMoney, Faircent.com, LoanCircle, Capzest, etc.

Mswipe acquires PayU offline POS Business

PoS (Point of Sale) solutions provider Mswipe has entered into a strategic partnership with online payment service provider PayU India. Mswipe has taken over the offline merchant acquiring business of PayU India.

Mswipe will merge PayU existing offline PoS division team into its existing operations and workforce expanding its network to 220K terminals across 550+ cities. On the other hand, merchants associated with Mswipe will now be able to avail Internet payments services offered by PayU India. PayU offline merchant acquisition team had acquired over 9,000 offline merchants in the country. All of PayU offline merchants along with its PoS business will also get transferred to Mswipe.

Mswipe is a PoS service provider for a large merchant base. It also allows merchants to undertake plastic card payments through smartphones or ordinary feature phones. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company claims to have a team of 2000. In July 2015, the startup secured $25 Mn (about INR160 Cr) in its Series C round of funding from New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital, investment firm Meru Capital and ride hailing app, Ola, and existing investors.

PayU India is the flagship company of Naspers Group. It was established in 2011 and has over 250 payment methods and PCI (Payment Card Industry)-certified platforms. It claims to have more than 1,800 payment specialists based in local markets supporting PayU 200,000+ merchants and consumers making online payments. In September 2016, it acquired rival online payment gateway CitrusPay for $130 Mn, making it by far the biggest M&A cash deal in Indian fintech. Earlier this month, Kreditech secured $119 Mn (Euro 110 Mn) from PayU.

NestAway Technologies acquires Zenify

Home rental startup NestAway Technologies Pvt. Ltd has acquired smaller rival Zenify (City Synapse Information Pvt. Ltd) for an undisclosed amount, a move that will help NestAway expand its offerings for families. Zenify will continue to operate as a separate entity after the acquisition.

NestAway manages a homeowner’s rental property throughout the rental life cycle, from showing the house to a prospective tenant and closing the rental agreement to collecting rent on the owner’s behalf and assisting the tenant and owner during move-out. The company charges a certain percentage of the monthly rent it generates from the house as commission.

The company, founded in 2015, started out as an aggregator of shared, furnished apartments for bachelors, before adding full homes for families. It claims to manage more than 10,000 homes in Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai. The company’s investors include Tiger Global Management and IDG Ventures.

According to data platform Crunchbase, NestAway has so far raised $43 million from Tiger Global, IDG Ventures India, Flipkart Ltd. The company has also raised about $5-6 million in venture debt from InnoVen Capital. Its last equity finance, a $30-million Series C round, came in April last year. According to data from research firm Tofler, NestAway clocked revenue of Rs5.8 crore for the year ended 31 March 2016 while losses stood at Rs37 crore. Following the acquisition of Zenify, NestAway will have more than 4,000 homes on offer for families. The segment has also witnessed consolidation in the recent past. For instance, Quikr acquired Grabhouse in an all-stock deal for about $10 million in November last year.

CarTrade acquires Adroit Inspection

MSC Solutions, which owns online automobile classifieds platform CarTrade, has acquired vehicle inspection in an all-cash deal more than a year after buying rival CarWale.

The acquisition was made about three months after the Mumbai-based company raised $55 million in a fresh round of funding co-led by its existing backer Temasek and a US-based family office, whose name was not disclosed. Adroit Inspection is the country’s largest auto inspection company and is expected to inspect 1 Million vehicles this year.

Adroit Inspection undertakes inspection and valuation of automobiles for clients including banks, insurance companies, and non-banking finance companies. Adroit Inspection claims to have over 300 inspectors across the country. In November 2015, it acquired rival CarWale from German media conglomerate Axel Springer for an estimated $90-$100 million, a transaction primarily funded by its $145million equity financing round led by Temasek Holdings, the government of Singapore-owned Investment Company, US-based investment firm March Capital and Warburg Pincus.

CarDekho, which is backed by Hillhouse Capital, Google Capital, and Sequoia Capital, has made about nine acquisitions over two years. According to industry estimates, India's automobile sector, including services, is the third-largest in the world, valued at about $125 billion, and is expected to touch $250 billion by 2020. The online segment currently contributes less than 1% to the overall figure and is expected to expand to 8% over three to four years. 

Cisco to acquire Viptela

American Technology giant Cisco has said it will pay $610 Million in cash to acquire a networking start-up led by Indian origin software industry veteran. Cisco will buy Viptela, a privately held software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) company based in San Jose, a move that will expand its portfolio.

Viptela fabric, as it relates to SD-WAN and cloud networking, “fits in as an important piece of Cisco’s Enterprise Networking strategy which is driving an industry-wide transition to a software centric architecture and business model. Viptela was founded by 2012 by former Cisco engineers, some of them hailing from the Indian sub-continent.

Cisco will buy Viptela for $610 million in cash and assumed equity awards and the acquisition were expected to close in the second half of 2017 after the completion of the customary closing conditions and regulatory review. Cisco said managing the network is becoming more complex as applications move to the cloud, employees become more mobile and billions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are added to the network.

Viptela provides a compelling SD-WAN solution that simplifies management, increases agility and reduces costs of interconnecting dispersed enterprise networks. Viptela technology is cloud-first, with a focus on simplicity and ease of deployment while simultaneously providing a rich set of capabilities and scale.