Quikr acquires India Property

Online classifieds platform Quikr has acquired Chennai based startup India Property Online Private Limited, a real estate platform, for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition signals Quikr’s strategy to build the transaction business on top of classifieds. The company has sought to grow through acquisitions since 2015 and has acquired 14 companies so far across categories. The Tiger Global-backed Quikr operates in segments such as real estate, auto, jobs, goods and services.

Founded in 2012, India Property offers in-depth information on property buying, selling and renting. The platform lists more than 6 lakh properties and 8,000 verified builder projects across 15 cities in India. It enables property search, diligence, financing, and transactions.

The startup backed by venture capital fund Bertelsmann India Investments and Mayfield has also built an analytics platform using street-level transaction data for residential properties and covers 5 million properties in south India. Till date, the company had raised $19 million cumulatively. Quikr operates two models in the real estate segment -- a co-living rental business and brokerage business for home buying.

Walmart Labs acqui-hires Int.AI

Walmart Labs, the local product development division of US retail giant Walmart has acqui-hired Delaware based data analytics and machine learning startup Int.AI, its second acqui-hire in India in three months, as it looks to strengthen its engineering team.

Int.AI was founded in 2016. It analyses data and shares it with targeted users over email as well as team messenger tools like Slack. In September, Walmart Labs brought the entire team of engineers from Bengaluru-based Appsfly onboard, which built a system for micro apps to get hosted and streamed on any platform.

Walmart move highlights its keen urge to deepen its presence in the country. The US-based retailer has been investing heavily in the country this year, starting with the game changing $16 Bn acquisition of Indian ecommerce unicorn Flipkart. The company also opened its 23rd wholesale store in Visakhapatnam recently. It claims 19 of these centres have already achieved break even.

Globally, acqui-hiring has been used by large companies to get talent in a new domain it looks to test waters. In 2017, Google acquired Halli Labs, a four-month-old startup out of Bengaluru that was developing artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions. In October, Airtel acqui-hired Authme ID services, an AI-based solution firm.

Google acquires “Where is My Train”

Global search giant Google has made its first product acquisition in India with Bengaluru based startup Where is My Train, which provides live train updates through an app without the use of Internet and the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Where Is My Train has been founded by five former executives of the US based technology entertainment company TiVo Corporation. The acquisition comes after reports in August in which Google and smartphone maker Xiaomi were said to be competing to acquire the company for nearly $30 Mn- $40 Mn. With the acquisition, Google may further amplify its presence in tier 2, 3, and 4 cities along with remote parts of the country where internet penetration is negligible.

Where Is My Train’s mobile app has recorded more than 10 Mn downloads and uses information from the cell tower instead of the internet or GPS to locate trains in real time. The app also helps people select the train after selecting their source and destination on the app. The services are currently available in English as well as eight regional languages including English, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada and more.

The company’s mission is to use “technology to improve the lives of millions of Indian train travellers.” India boasts the fourth-largest railway network in the world with a total route length of 67,368 km (according to Indian Railways statistics from 2016-17) and 8,116 Mn originating passengers annually. However, Indian trains are perpetually getting delayed or cancelled. In such a scenario, an app may well be a boon for passengers.

Zomato acquires TechEagle

Online food delivery company Zomato has acquired TechEagle Innovations, a Lucknow based startup that works exclusively on drones. TechEagle will help Zomato move towards offering drone based food delivery in India, by creating a hub-to-hub delivery network powered by hybrid multi-rotor drones.

TechEagle was founded in 2015 by IIT Kanpur alumni. It works with a prime focus on custom-made drones capable of carrying up to 5 kg payloads. It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) recently legalized flying commercial drones and also announced a policy called Drone Regulations 1.0. While these guidelines banned the use of drones for delivery of goods and food, on September 19, minister of state for civil aviation hinted at including a clause on the application of drones for ecommerce and food delivery in the draft Drone Regulations 2.0.

India is currently in the early stage of aerial innovations and is taking baby steps towards building a future where users can expect a drone to deliver the food they ordered online. Zomato currently delivers 22 Mn monthly orders and is leaving no stone unturned as far as last-mile delivery is concerned. The company boasts a last-mile delivery fleet of 1.5 lakh partners and has over 75,000 restaurant partners offering food delivery services across 100 cities in India.

So far, Zomato has made 12 acquisitions globally. In the last two years, Runnr (September 2017) and TongueStun ($18 Mn, September 2018) have been its prime acquisitions aimed at boosting its food delivery and logistics network. Other startups acquired by Zomato include MapleGraph, Sparse Labs, NexTable, Mekanist, Urbanspoon, Cibando, LunchTime, Obedovat, Menu Mania, and gastronauci.pl.

TCS acquires BridgePoint Group

Tata Consultancy Services, a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization announced the acquisition of BridgePoint Group, LLC, and a US management consulting firm catering to the financial services industry, and specializing in retirement services, through the purchase of select company assets.

This acquisition augments TCS’ financial services and insurance domain knowledge, particularly in the area of US retirement services, where BridgePoint team of experts currently provide strategic insights and advisory services around growth, business agility, customer experience and technical transformation. TCS currently partners with eight of the top 10 US Banking, Financial services and Insurance Institutions, and offers retirement services across the globe.

BridgePoint entire management team and key experts will join TCS. Their deep customer relationships and significant industry knowledge adds to TCS’ ability to provide digital solutions that enhance sponsor and participant experience, and drive Business 4.0 transformations in the $1 trillion US retirement services market.

The US retirement business is complex, so Bridge Point’s deep industry expertise and team of highly experienced consultants will enable TCS to develop a robust customer-focused retirement services business.

Sun Pharma to acquire Pola Pharma

Sun Pharma will acquire Japan based Polo Pharma for around $1 Million to strengthen its presence in dermatology segment across the globe. The company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pola Pharma, which is engaged in research and development, manufacture, sale and distribution of branded and generic products in Japan.

Pola Pharma portfolio mainly comprises dermatology products. It has two manufacturing facilities in Saitama with capabilities to manufacture topical products and injectables. It also has R&D capabilities to develop new technologies and formulations. Pola Pharma is a leading dermatology company and it will help Sun Pharma launch our specialty and generic dermatology products in the Japanese market in future.

Sun Pharma forayed into the Japanese prescription market in 2016, with the acquisition of 14 established prescription brands from Novartis. The size of the Japanese pharmaceutical market is estimated at $84.8 billion, accounting for around 7.5% of the $1.13-trillion global pharmaceutical market.

Apple acquires Silk Labs

Apple’s HomePod is a distant third behind Amazon and Google when it comes to market share for smart speakers that double up as home hubs, with less than 5 percent share of the market for these devices in the U.S. And its flagship personal assistant, Siri, has also been determined to lag behind Google when it comes to comprehension and precision. But there are signs that the company is intent on doubling down on AI, putting it at the center of its next generation of products, and it’s using acquisitions to help it do so.

Apple has quietly acquired Silk Labs, a startup based out of San Francisco that had worked on AI-based personal assistant technology both for home hubs and mobile devices. There are two notable things about Silk’s platform that set it apart from that of other assistants: it was able to modify its behavior as it learned more about its users over time (both using sound and vision), and it was designed to work on-device — a nod to privacy and concerns about “always on” speakers listening to you, improved processing on devices and the constraints of the cloud and networking technology.

Silk Labs first product was originally conceived as integrated software and hardware: the company raised just under $165,000 in a Kickstarter to build and ship Sense, a smart speaker that would provide a way to control connected home devices and answer questions, and — with a camera integrated into the device — be able to monitor rooms and learn to recognize people and their actions.

Silk Labs announced that it would shelve the Sense hardware to focus specifically on the software, called Silk, after it said it started to receive inquiries from OEMs interested in getting a version of the platform to run on their own devices (it also raised money outside of Kickstarter, around $4 million). Potentially, Silk could give those OEMs a way of differentiating from the plethora of devices that are already on the market.

Cure.fit acquires Seraniti

Health and Fitness startup CureFit has acquired integrated mental wellness platform Seraniti. CureFit has rebranded Seraniti clinics at Bengaluru and Pune as Mind.fit, which offers online, and offline yoga, meditation and therapy services.

Seraniti was founded in 2016 by mental health practitioner. It offers psychotherapy services through 15 in-house professionals. Its team assesses the users' requirement and matches them to the right therapist. Users can then book an appointment. Seraniti claims it undertakes about 500 sessions a month in Bengaluru and Pune.

The Seraniti app is no longer available for users. Seraniti customers will be transitioned to the Mind.fit fold and will have access to yoga and meditation centres and do-it-yourself tutorials. They can now book appointments though the Cure.fit app.

Mind.fit claims to be India’s largest yoga chain with a membership of about 11,000, conducting 160 classes a day across its over 70 centres. CureFit is backed by venture capital firms Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital and Chiratae Ventures, which was previously known as IDG Ventures India. It formally launched the flagship Cure.fit mobile app in May last year. 

Another offering is Cult.fit, which runs offline centres that offer equipment-less workouts including strength and conditioning exercises, spinning, boxing, mixed martial arts, zumba and yoga. Eat.fit is its subscription-based food delivery vertical while Mind.fit focuses on yoga and meditation. Its latest offering, Care.fit, offers a digital platform for doctors and health checkups.

Microsoft to acquire XOXCO

Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Xoxco, an Austin-based software developer with a focus on bot design, making it the fourth AI-related company Microsoft has purchased this year.

Xoxco, which was founded in 2009 — long before most of us were thinking about conversational bots — has raised $1.5 million. It began working on bots in 2013, and is credited with developing the first bot for Slack to help schedule meetings. The companies did not reveal the price, but it fits nicely with Microsoft’s overall acquisition strategy this year, and an announcement today involving a new bot building tool to help companies build conversational bots more easily.

When you call into a call center these days, or even interact on chat, chances are your initial interaction is with a conversational bot, rather than a human. Microsoft is trying to make it easier for developers without AI experience to tap into Microsoft’s expertise on the Azure platform (or by downloading the bot framework from its newly acquired GitHub).

Microsoft also released guidelines for companies that are building chatbots, encouraging them to make sure they are “responsible and trustworthy,” a nod to past problems involving the technology reacting in unexpected ways. Microsoft, for instance, received criticism for its Tay chat bot that fielded offensive comments from online trolls and then repeated them.

Cipla to acquire Avenue Therapeutics

Cipla has entered into an agreement to acquire US based specialty Pharma Company Avenue Therapeutics Inc. for $215 Million. This is in line with Cipla strategy of building a specialty drugs pipeline in the US.

Cipla's US subsidiary InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. will make the acquisition in two stages. In the first stage, InvaGen or its affiliates will acquire a 33.3 per cent stake in Avenue's via new shares for around $35 mn (currently expected to be 5,833,333 shares at $6.00 per share).

Avenue is working on the development and commercialization of intravenous Tramadol, an analgesic to treat pain in adults. There is currently no approved intravenous formulation in the US. Avenue is evaluating IV Tramadol in Phase 3 clinical program: a trial in patients following bunionectomy surgery has been completed and a safety study is ongoing. A pivotal Phase 3 trial in patients following abdominoplasty surgery is expected to commence later this year in 2018.

Cipla, which trails only Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd among Indian drug makers by market value, has been streamlining its operations globally, acquiring products and businesses in some regions while also shedding some units to sharpen focus on core areas.

Mphasis acquires US based Stelligent

Mid-size information Technology Company Mphasis announced acquisition of a US based technology services player Stelligent for $25 Million in an all-cash deal. Established in 2007, the Reston, Virginia- headquartered Stelligent specializes in ‘DevOps automation’ on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the online retail giant’s cloud offering.

The company is a premier consulting partner on AWS Partner Network (APN) and holds both AWS DevOps and financial services expertise in deploying their customers’ applications on AWS with greater speed, agility, and security.

For the uninitiated, DevOps is a software development methodology that combines software development with information technology operations. The goal of DevOps is to shorten the systems development life cycle while also delivering features, fixes, and updates frequently in close alignment with business objectives.

Mphasis has earlier acquired Wyde (2011) and Fortify Infrastructure Services (2010). Wyde is an international software vendor and creator of Wynsure — an industry leading insurance policy administration solution whereas Fortify Infrastructure Services is a leading global provider of comprehensive end-to-end Remote IT Operations and Management (ROM) solutions.

TCS acquires W12 Studios

Infotech (IT) firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has acquired London based digital design company W12 Studios for an undisclosed sum, marking its first digital acquisition. W12 Studios will be a part of TCS Interactive, which is the digital division of the IT service provider’s business and technology services unit.

With its bold, provocative and visionary approach to design, W12 Studios adds to TCS Interactive portfolio of services as it helps the world’s leading brands innovate, create and deliver unique digital experiences across the entire user journey.

W12 Studios, founded in 2012 by chief executive Fabian Birgfeld and creative chief Michael Albers will retain its current name, branding and location in London's historic Metropolitan Wharf in Wapping. The duo will continue to lead W12 Studios and keep their current roles.

TCS, which became the first Indian company in April to cross $100 billion in market value, is also looking at newer technologies such as Internet of Things, automation and cloud computing to push its digital revenue past the $5 billion mark this year.

IBM bought Red Hat

IBM’s purchase of Red Hat Inc. is a $33 Billion bid aimed at catapulting the company into the ranks of the top cloud software competitors. The cash deal, IBM’s biggest ever by far, boosts the 107-year-old computer-services giant’s credentials overnight in the fast-growing and lucrative cloud market — and gives it much-needed potential for real revenue growth.

The company once synonymous with mainframe computing has been slow to adopt cloud-related technologies and has had to play catch-up to market leaders Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in offering computing and other software and services over the internet.

IBM has seen revenue decline by almost a quarter. While some of that has been from divestitures, most is from declining sales in existing hardware, software and services offerings, as the company has struggled to compete with younger technology companies.

Revenue at Red Hat, which sells software and services based on the open-source Linux operating system, is expected to top $3 billion for the first time this year as the company’s Red Hat Enterprise Linux product attracts business from large customers. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Lazard Ltd. advised IBM on the deal. Morgan Stanley and Guggenheim Partners were financial advisers to Red Hat, while Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom provided legal advice.

Zydus to buy Heinz India Business

Zydus wellness, a part of the Ahmedabad headquartered Zydus group, announced plans to acquire Heinz India, known for its brands like Complan, Glucon D, Nycil and Sampriti Ghee.

Apart from the four iconic brands, Heinz India’s business comprises two large manufacturing facilities in Aligarh and Sitarganj and teams devoted to operations, research, sales, marketing and support. Heinz India also has a strong network of over 800 distributors and more than 20,000 wholesalers covering 29 states.

For the four brands, Heinz India recorded revenues of about Rs 1,150 crores and EBIDTA of about Rs 225 crores for the 12 month period ending 30 June 2018. Following this acquisition, Zydus Wellness will have consolidated revenues of about Rs 1,700 crores. The transaction is proposed to be financed by a mix of equity and debt. Select leading private equity firms have committed to partnering the transaction by way of equity support.

The acquired brands have a strong market presence and a legacy of over 50 years. Glucon D, first launched in 1933, is the leader in the energy drinks segment in India. Complan, a household brand in the health food drink category, was introduced in India in 1969 as a milk-based health food drink. Launched in 1951, Nycil is the number one prickly heat powder with a pan-India presence.

Zydus Wellness has a presence in food, nutrition and the skin care markets and owns brands like Sugar Free, EverYuth and Nutralite. This will be the second acquisition for Zydus Wellness following the acquisition of Nutralite, India’s largest selling premium healthy fat spread, in 2006.

InMobi acquires Pinsight Media

InMobi has acquired Pinsight Media, a mobile data and advertising company in an all-stock deal. InMobi says that this is a part of the partnership with US Telco Sprint in regards to devices, data, media and marketing. The acquisition will help InMobi with better targeting, engagement and retention through network level mobile data from mobile apps and browsers, through its InMobi Marketing Cloud product.

Pinsight is a subsidiary of Sprint, which offers ad products and services to US Telco’s and advertisers across consumer goods, retail, entertainment and finance. Its services include getting new audiences, finding market opportunities and engagement strategies. It claims to get mobile data from 32 million mobile users from the network.

InMobi now has expanded its operations in North America to Kansas City along with the existing operations in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. In January this year, InMobi acquired US-based mobile video ad startup AerServ for $90 million in a cash and stock deal. Post this, the company’s video and programmatic business accounted for 35% of the overall company revenues. In June, it also partnered with Microsoft wherein InMobi moved to Microsoft Azure as its cloud provider and would also collaborate for technology and marketing strategies.

Samsung acquires network analysis firm Zhilabs

Samsung Electronics announced its acquisition of Zhilabs, known for its Artificial Intelligence (AI) based network and service analytics, to further enhance its 5G capabilities. The acquisition lays the foundation for Samsung to foster its 5G offerings of automation and network analytics to finely tune the customer experiences in the 5G era.

AI-based automation will play a central role in the introduction of new services in the 5G era, such as industrial Internet of Things (IoT) and connected cars, as carriers will require automated solutions and network analytics beyond what was possible in previous generations. AI-based transformation can be used to analyze user traffic, classify application being used, and improve overall service quality, as such needs can no longer be addressed by existing solutions.

Samsung is looking forward to joint capabilities to create new cutting-edge technology in the transformation from 4G to 5G. In addition to the acquisition, Samsung will continue to strengthen its automation solutions that measure the quality of each user service and can also automatically optimize service quality without human intervention. The company will also explore and invest in other business opportunities powered by the emerging technologies.

In August, Samsung announced plans to boost investments in businesses that will drive its future growth, committing to a KRW 25 trillion investment over the next three years in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, automotive electronics components and biopharmaceuticals.

DailyNinja buys WakeupBasket

Hyperlocal delivery startup DailyNinja has acquired Hyderabad based WakeupBasket in a cash and equity deal. This is DailyNinja's second acquisition; it had bought Hyderabad-based 4amshop in August.

DailyNinja runs a grocery and milk delivery service. It operates both a marketplace and an inventory-led model, and earns revenue from subscriptions. The startup last raised funding in June. It secured $3 million (around Rs 20 crore) in a Series A funding round led by new investor Saama Capital. Existing investor Sequoia Capital had also put in money.

Besides Bengaluru, DailyNinja delivers in Hyderabad and Chennai as well. It fulfills 3,500 orders a day, the statement said. WakeupBasket, operated by Crocksys Technologies Pvt. Ltd, was founded in 2015. It provides morning delivery of household essentials like DailyNinja, besides selling milk and groceries on its platform. The Hyderabad-based startup had raised a seed round from various angel investors and has grown to fulfill 2,500 orders a day.

In January, Gurgaon-based micro-delivery grocery startup Milkbasket raised $3 million (around Rs 19 crore) in funding from Unilever Ventures, the investment arm of consumer goods giant Unilever. Doodhwala, a subscription-based milk and daily essentials delivery startup, secured $2.2 million (Rs 14.27 crore) from impact venture fund Omnivore in February.

Ola’s Foodpanda acquires Holachef

Foodpanda, the online food ordering and delivery startup owned by Ola, has acquired Mumbai based food-tech startup Holachef Hospitality Pvt. Ltd for an undisclosed sum. Foodpanda will take over Holachef’s employees and kitchen equipment’s. 

Holachef marks Ola’s second acquisition within a year, which bought Foodpanda from Germany’s Delivery Hero in December last year. Ola, run by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, is seemingly leaving no stone unturned to fight it out in the online food ordering space dominated by Swiggy (Bundl Technologies Pvt. Ltd) and Zomato (Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd). Ola rival Uber India Pvt. Ltd too has entered the space with UberEats India.

Foodpanda will foray into cloud kitchens with its acquisitions. It also plans to launch its own food brand across categories. The company claims to have a network of over 1 lakh delivery partners and access to over 150 million customers. Holachef delivers home-cooked food to customers and was operational in Mumbai and Pune. The company, backed by Ratan Tata, Kalaari Capital and India Quotient, had raised $9.6 million cumulatively till date, according to data from Crunchbase.

While India’s food-tech space has seen rapid expansion in the past couple of years, several startups—including TinyOwl, Yumist and Dazo—operating in the domain have shut shop. Bengaluru-based SpoonJoy was acquired by online groceries firm Grofers in 2015.

MobiKwik acquires ClearFunds

Digital payments company MobiKwik has acquired online mutual fund platform ClearFunds as it pivots towards a complete fin-tech company facing tough competition from market leader Paytm, owned by One97 Communications Ltd.

Founded in 2016, Clearfunds (Harvest Fintech Private Limited) is an online mutual fund advisory platform that claims to use data science and analysis to help investors make informed and profitable investment decisions. It claims to have $45 million in assets under management (AUM).

MobiKwik, which has a customer base of 100 million, will now sell only direct plans on its platform that comes without distributor commissions. Paytm Money, the new wealth management unit of One97 Communications Ltd, entered the mutual fund market with its own application in April this year.

The Gurugram-headquartered company will invest $15 million in its wealth management category in the next year to take on competitors like Paytm, which in turn is reportedly looking to offer shares of listed companies directly to customers. MobiKwik recently entered digital lending services by offering 90-second loans to its users in a bid to compete with Soft-bank backed Paytm.

Careem and Shuttl acquihires Commut

Careem, the leading tech platform for the greater Middle East, has acquired Commut, the Hyderabad based mass transportation app for an undisclosed amount. The deal secures the talent and superior technology of Commut, which will be integrated wholly into Careem, and will accelerate Careem expansion into mass transportation through the addition of bus services across its 100 cities.

Founded by six IIT Hyderabad graduates Commut is a tech-driven bus shuttle service that has been operational in Hyderabad since November 2015. Since inception, they have served 750,000 trips within 100+ existing routes in Hyderabad. Backed by UK-Based Shell-Foundation and 50K Ventures, Commut served over 70,000 customers and onboarded 400 driver-partners. Commut local operations including its customers and driver-partners have now been taken over by Shuttl - a shuttle service provider in India.

As Careem continues to expand across its technology platform, the business will continue to acquire and invest in high impact, relevant and value-driven technology businesses and start-ups that can accelerate growth for Careem and can solve complex problems in the greater Middle East region.

Careem is a pioneer in the region’s ‘sharing economy’ – it’s mission is to simplify and improve the lives of people and build a lasting institution that inspires. Established in July 2012, Careem is the region’s only unicorn, operating in more than 100 cities across 14 countries.

Flipkart acquires Upstream Commerce

Flipkart has acquired an Israel based analytics start-up called Upstream Commerce, as India’s largest online retailer looks to help its massive seller base with services such as real-time pricing and product assortment information.

This is Flipkart’s second acquisition in as many months, after the Walmart-controlled e-commerce firm acquired Indian artificial intelligence start-up Liv.ai in August. The latest buyout will also enable Flipkart to have an outpost in Israel, which is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost start-up ecosystems.

Upstream, which counted Israel-based early-stage venture capital firm YL Ventures as its biggest investor prior to the buyout, currently builds cloud-based and automated competitive pricing products and solutions, among other things. With the Upstream acquisition, Flipkart will now have tech and talent presence across Asia, US and Israel, some of the key global hubs for innovation.

Earlier, Flipkart has held talks to buy a stake in Hotstar, Star India’s video streaming service, as part of a broader strategy from Flipkart to bet on video content and attract more Internet consumers and shoppers, without having to build an Amazon Prime Video-like streaming service from scratch.

Adobe to acquire Marketo

Adobe Systems announced that it is acquiring software maker Marketo for $4.75 Bn in a move widely seen as one of that will strengthen its position in the fiercely competitive cloud computing and marketing tech sector.

The maker of image-editing tool Photoshop said in a statement that the deal would bring together Marketo’s B2B-focused platform with the capabilities of Adobe Experience Cloud that include analytics, content, personalization and advertising.

It also comes just months after Adobe acquired e-commerce specialist Magento for $1.68bn, indicating that the company is highly focused on expanding its presence in the fast-growing cloud sector, which is currently dominated by Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce.

Adobe and Marketo tools will enable businesses to use a data-driven approach to focus sales and marketing activities on the most valuable prospects and customers, deliver cross-channel experiences and acquire more customers through targeted, account-based advertising.

Uber to acquire Dubai ride hailing firm Careem

Uber Technologies Inc. is in discussions to buy its Dubai based rival Careem Networks FZ as the ride hailing giant expands in the Middle East.

A deal with Uber could head off a potential IPO. Careem had held talks with investors earlier this year to raise $500 million, potentially valuing the firm at about $1.5 billion ahead of a possible listing, people familiar with the matter said in May.

The company, whose backers include Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. and German automaker Daimler AG, was valued at a little more than $1 billion in a 2016 funding round, making it one of the most valuable technology startups in the Middle East.

Careem has more than a million drivers and operates in more than 100 cities in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Pakistan, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Turkey, Palestine, Iraq and Sudan, according to its website. The app lets customers book rides on cars, bikes, golf carts, boats and rickshaws as well as schedule deliveries.

Elite SEM Acquires CPC Strategy

Elite SEM has acquired CPC Strategy, the San Diego based agency known for its expertise in retail, ecommerce and specifically the Amazon Channel, where it expects to drive more than half of its revenue in 2018. The combination with CPC Strategy adds critical scale to Elite’s rapidly growing Amazon practice, bolsters the depth of its expertise in search and social and also delivers a powerful technology asset in CPC strategy proprietary CAPx media and bid optimization platform.

CPC Strategy, with a team of over 125 employees, works with both brands and sellers and provides services including strategy and advisory, media planning and placement, creative and content services, and data and analytics. Clients include Pfizer, Reef, and Guthy Renker, The Honest Company, Hallmark, Nestle, Comvita, Riddell, Unilever's Seventh Generation, and Nutrisystem, as well as many Amazon-only sellers.

The combined entity will have approximately 500 performance media specialists, integrated media strategists, and data scientists. Both companies have a deep commitment to creating the best possible work environment, based on meritocracy, resulting in superior client service and retention. The acquisition follows Elite SEM's 'Experts Only' operating model, which maintains and develops specialization around each practice area while bringing a holistic approach to clients through Integrated Media Strategy and Marketing Science.

The acquisition includes CPC Strategy's proprietary Amazon media and bid optimization platform, CAPx, which provides a substantial competitive advantage through both efficiency and efficacy gains, resulting in superior service and performance gains for their clients. While Elite SEM will continue to work with industry partners and third-party technology, this proprietary solution enables strategy and service teams to address market gaps and provide the best platform recommendation for clients.

Amazon Pay to acquire Tapzo

Amazon India Payment arm, Amazon Pay, has acquired Bengaluru based and Sequoia backed startup Tapzo, as the e-commerce giant attempts to aggressively ramp up its payments business and get a bigger slice of India’s booming digital payments economy, currently dominated by the likes of Paytm.

Prior to its acquisition, Tapzo counted the likes of Sequoia Capital and American Express Co. among its investors, and had raised over $20 million since it started out in 2009. In its current avatar, Tapzo allows users to access over 35 apps, including the likes of Flipkart, Amazon, Uber and Ola, among others.

Founded in 2009 as a complaint redressal forum called Akosha, the service was rebranded and launched as Helpchat. Helpchat started out as a personal assistant platform with a chatting feature, but even that pivot proved unsuccessful for Singla and the rest of his team. Eventually, Helpchat was pivoted and re-launched as an all-in-one platform, Tapzo, in November 2016.

Amazon separately launched a new bill payments service, which will enable prepaid and postpaid bill payments through its Amazon Pay wallet. As part of the new service, Amazon has forged tie-ups with hundreds of billers for electricity, mobile and broadband bill payments, among others.

Cognizant to acquire SaaSfocus

Cognizant will acquire SaaSfocus, a provider of Salesforce consulting services, for an undisclosed amount as the IT major looks to further strengthen its business in the Indian and Australian markets.

SaaSfocus which is privately held offers digital transformation services leveraging the Salesforce platform. It has over 350 Salesforce consultants in Australia and India. The acquisition will help expand Cognizant’s end-to-end digital transformation services and Salesforce cloud capabilities in the region, including India and Australia. Cognizant already offers a wide range of Salesforce solutions.

Combining Cognizant global capabilities, deep domain expertise and digital solutions with SaaSfocus specialized Salesforce consulting competencies will help SaaSfocus accelerate clients digital transformation journeys. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to certain closing conditions.

Flipkart buys AI startup Liv.ai

India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart has acquired artificial intelligence (AI) startup Liv.ai, which has built a platform that translates speech to text in 10 Indian languages. The acquisition comes at a time when large online retail firms are doubling down and investing heavily on getting access to the next 100 million Internet users in tier-2 and tier-3 cities and towns across India.

After the acquisition is completed, Liv.ai will be integrated into Flipkart Center of Excellence for Voice Solutions, as it looks to leverage the startup’s technology and build its capabilities around so-called conversational shopping. For Flipkart, this buyout is crucial as it potentially helps the online retailer overcome the language barrier problem, an issue faced by most leading consumer internet companies.

Flipkart’s arch-rival Amazon.com Inc. has also bet on voice and speech-recognition technology globally and come out with new offerings in the form of AI-powered virtual assistant Alexa. Liv.ai is one of a handful of startups to build technology that converts speech to text in 10 Indian languages that include Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Prior to being sold to Flipkart, the startup had raised funding from investors such as Astarc Ventures.

Pepsi to buy SodaStream

PepsiCo Inc. agreed to buy SodaStream International Ltd for $3.2 Billion to gain the Israeli company’s at home soft-drink making technology. PepsiCo will pay $144 a share in cash. 

The move is widely seen as an effort by Pepsi to prop up its catalog of “healthy” food and drink options as it continues to wage battle against longtime rival Coca-Cola. Both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have invested heavily in both healthier and eco-friendly alternatives over the past decade.

The purchase will probably be the last big move by PepsiCo chief executive officer Indra Nooyi, who said this month she’s stepping down as head of the beverage company after 12 years in the job. The purchase of SodaStream comes as the company’s North American beverage unit is stagnating amid a general decline in soda consumption.

SodaStream has been the focus of controversy in the Middle East. Protesters claimed victory when the company closed a factory in the West Bank in 2014, which the opponents said was part of Israel’s illegal occupation of the territory. SodaStream has argued that boycotts and protests have hurt Palestinians more than helped them.

Girnar Software acquires PowerDrift

Jaipur based Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd, which owns auto portals CarDekho.com, BikeDekho.com and Gaadi.com has acquired automotive content YouTube channel PowerDrift for an undisclosed amount.

Owned and operated by PowerDrift Studios Private Limited, the YouTube channel uploads videos reviews of cars and motorcycles. The channel has about a million subscribers today. PowerDrift claims to have generated 240 million lifetime views on its channel, with an average of 200,000 views per video.

Girnar Software, founded in 2007 also owns TyreDekho.com and BuyingIQ.com (online shopping adviser). In 2014, Girnar had acquired Naspers Group-owned Gaadi.com. It also bought Zigwheels.com from Times Internet in September 2015. The same year, it invested $1 million in edu-tech startup CollegeDekho.

Besides Gaadi.com and Zigwheels.com, Girnar Software acquired several other companies. These include Drishya360s (virtual reality), Volob Technologies (AR-VR focused visual communications), Connecto (SaaS start-up), Help on Wheels (roadside assistance), Valueserve Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd (consulting firm), and Advanced Structures India (car-testing and benchmarking firm).