Mindtree to buy Magnet 360

Mid-size IT services firm Mindtree Ltd has inked a definitive agreement to acquire Magnet 360, a Salesforce.com platinum consulting partner, for $50 Million in cash, in a move at addressing the cloud based services market. The deal amount includes an upfront payment of $37 Million and earns out and additional payout of up to $13 Million over the next two years.

With the acquisition of Magnet 360, Mindtree will add more than 100 certified Salesforce experts and help clients digitize back end values chains. This acquisition will strengthen their offerings in digitizing the value chain and building sense and respond systems. Founded in 2008, Magnet 360 specializes in Multi-clouded solutions providing consulting services and implementation, mainly to media/entertainment, manufacturing and finance industries. It is operational mainly in the US.

The company has been a Salesforce partner since 2004. Salesforce, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud and others are trademarks of Salesforce.com. Magnet 360 works with companies across Salesforce solutions such as CRM, branded sites and communities, social campaign strategy and management and marketing automation. Salesforce had invested in Magnet 360 along with StarTec Investments and Gage Group.

The company is headquartered in Minneapolis with Offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Its revenue was about $25 Million in calendar year 2015. Bangalore based Mindtree counts Nalanda Capital, Global Technology Ventures and V G Siddhartha led café Coffee Day Group as its shareholders.

Netflix to enter India

Netflix is an American provider of on demand Internet steaming media available to viewers in all of North America, Australia, New Zealand, South America and parts of Europe. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in California. It started its subscription based service in 1999 and by 2009; Netflix was offering a collection of 100,000 titles on DVD and had surpassed 10 Million subscribers.

After Singapore based on demand Internet video provider Hooq launched operations in India, Netflix has confirmed up plans to enter India by 2016. This has sent domestic DTH players into a tizzy with some of the major chalking out strategies to diversify beyond television. Netflix is one of the on demands Internet streaming media companies in the world with around 62 Million subscribers.

More than 40 percent of those users are in the US, a market which has become crowded with HBO Now, Sling TV and Sony entering the content streaming segment. Even Hooq, which lets a user stream and download movies and TV shows in India for Rs 199 per month, is a joint venture between Sing Tel, Warner Bros and Sony pictures Television. With 4G about to become a nationwide reality soon, it is no surprise that Netflix wants to enter the market, which is leading the world in mobile Internet user growth.

Star India acquires Screen

Star India is an Indian Media and entertainment company, owned by 21^st Century Fox. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Star India portfolio includes 48 channels in eight languages. Recently, Star India entered into an agreement with Indian Express Group to acquire film magazine ‘Screen’. Founded in 1951, Screen also owns a popular film awards franchise by the same name.

As part of the transaction, Star will get exclusive ownership of the Screen brand franchise, including all archival material and transfer of key employees. The screen acquisition will yield huge benefits for Star India and Hotstar app, the digital platform. Star has built one of the largest media and entertainment organizations in the country, reaching over 700 million viewers with nearly 40 channels in seven languages.

Screen, with a circulation of nearly 15,000 copies per week, will publish its last print edition this week as Star India takes the entertainment weekly online to be a part of its recently launched digital initiative Hotstar. Hotstar launched on 1 February, is a mobile application that offers more than 35,000 hours of content in seven languages, promising viewers a big library of movies, television shows and even live sports (cricket, football, tennis, and kabaddi).

The deal is estimated to be in the range of Rs 30 crore to Rs 40 crore. The acquisitions means Star now owns the popular screen awards. Last month, Star India acquired Telugu television channel Maa TV in its largest acquisition in India, in a deal estimated to be in excess of Rs 2000 Crore. Hotstar has 35-40 advertisers across various categories including Coca Cola, Nissan, Nestle, and Airtel, as well as e-commerce companies like Snapdeal and Flipkart.

Snapdeal in talks to buy Komli

A major acquisition in the mobile advertising space seems only a matter of time as e-commerce players flex their financial muscle to bring in the next piece of their jigsaw puzzle. Sources indicate that the likes of Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, and Shopclues, are all in the market for acquisition. The target seems to be broadly divided in two categories – mobile tech and mobile banking.

Online retailer Snapdeal is in advanced talks to acquire Komli Media in a deal that values the ad technology company at about $300 Million, the same as when it raised funds from investors. The deal will give Snapdeal engineering capabilities in Bengaluru as it battles Flipkart, as well as it notch up advertising revenues by selling space on the e-commerce site. Snapdeal had an estimated 79.8 monthly visitors in February and Flipkart had 110.5 Million.

Flipkart recently made clear its plans to sell advertising on its platform. The ecommerce firm also acquired ad technology company AdIQuity. Komli was founded by Amar Goel in 2006 and has raised $97 Million in five rounds of funding from investors including Nexus Ventures Partners and Peepul Capital. It employs nearly 300 people across India and started as a digital advertising network – buying and selling advertising inventory online in Asia Pacific.

Goel also set up Pubmatic, focused on technology for online advertising in the US in 2008. InMobi, another ad network based in Bengaluru, was founded a year later and went on to raise $200 Million from Japan Softbank. Driven by increased spending by ecommerce companies, India’s online advertising market is set to grow by 30% this financial year to reach a total size of Rs 3,575 crore. 

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. 

Twitter partners with TV channels in India

Television partnerships are a key way in which the company is looking to monetize its user base globally. Last year, it paid $67 Million for Bluefin Labs, a startup that uses analytical to tie social media charter to television. In order to increase its user base globally, San Francisco based company, Twitter Inc. is speeding up its partnerships deal with television channels in India.

The move is expected to help Twitter, as it increases the conversation around hit shows and helps the channels by getting new viewers to tune in. The company also launched its Amplify product, which helps networks monetize content, last month with Star Sports and Vodafone. Twitter already has a tie up with Airtel DTH, which allows customers to view tweets on their television screen. More deals in the space are underway. The channels are also using Twitter to discover more audiences for their shows, for instances shows like Roadies, Big Boss, and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa etc. promote tweeting to boost viewership. Star Plus is debuting the promo for the Aamir Khan hosted Satyamev Jayate on the site by asking fans to tweet with a hashtag.

Apart from this, Twitter Inc. has announced its plans to raise $1.3 Billion in its first debt offering by issuing convertible senior notes. Until now, Twitter has made around 41 acquisitions. Twitter has recently introduced new product experiences, launched new web profiles with a number of new advertiser tools. The firm has also acquired three companies as Gnip, TapCommerce, and SnappyTV. The company has also acquired mobile advertising startup Namo Media for a deal amount of around $50 Million. The company has launched “pay by tweet” service with American Express and “Keyword Targeting ad feature.” It had collaborated with WPP to increase its advertising revenues and offers text based password recovery service.

Second screen devices such as Tablets, Ultrabooks, and Smartphones are likely to be principal force behind social TV experiences. TV and video content providers such as cable companies have a great opportunity to target heavy users with Social TV in order to reduce potential churn. Twitter had also added a new video sharing feature on Mobile with two of the World Cup Advertisers Visa, and Adidas.