Delivery Hero acquires Foodpanda

Berlin based online Food takeaway service Delivery Hero, one of Europe’s biggest start-ups will acquire competitor Foodpanda, a sign further consolidation to fend of new competition in Europe’s sought after food delivery business. The acquisition brings together two top food delivery startups based in Germany.

After this acquisition, the combined group is expected to process over 20 Million orders per month across 47 countries. Delivery Hero currently serves across 33 countries and Foodpanda in 22 countries. With this deal, Rocket Internet stake in Delivery Hero will grow up to 37.7%. The acquisition of Foodpanda will enable Delivery Hero to consolidate its market leadership in the Middle East and add 20 new countries in Eastern Europe, MENA and Asia.

Delivery Hero, which was most recently valued at $3.1 Billion and competes directly with publicly listed Just Eat, along with newer premium entrants such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats & Amazon. Delivery Hero and Foodpanda are both backed by German ecommerce firm Rocket Internet, which has invested 800 million euros in Delivery Hero last year and put 300 million euros into Foodpanda which focuses on deliveries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

Foodpanda has built a fantastic position and service offering some of the largest food delivery markets globally. In November end, the company had announced the participation of Sunny Leone in their digital marketing campaign. The company had said that the campaign is going to target consumers through different Social Media platforms like Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram etc. 

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.

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.

L & T Technology to acquire Dell engineering services

Larsen and Toubro Limited is an Indian Multinational Conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company has business interest in engineering, construction, manufacturing goods, information technology, and financial services. It was recognized as the company of the year in Economic Times 2010 Awards.

Dell is an American privately owned Multinational computer technology based in Texas, United States. It sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals, cameras, printers, and electronics built by other manufacturers. Company is well known for its innovation in Supply chain Management and E-commerce business.

L & T Technology services is going to buy Engineering services division of US based Dell Inc. The deal has got the nod of Competition Commission of India (CCI) and is waiting for approvals from US regulatory. This acquisition will help L & T establish itself as a premier engineering services provider by adding local delivery centres in North America. This strategic acquisition will strengthen L & T technology services global position in the $4 Billion transportation engineering research & development market.

Dell engineering services has delivery centres in Hyderabad and Bangalore, India. According to a comment mentioned by L & T chief executive Keshab Panda has said that the company will not spend more than $50 Million on any acquisition. In June this year, L & T Technology services acquired 74 percent stake in Thales Software India Pvt. Ltd. to grow its avionics Business. Recently, L & T said that it is planning to start its IPO process for both its technology subsidiaries i.e. L&T InfoTech and L&T Technology services by 2016.

This is the first acquisition this year in technical industry by an Indian company acquiring US Company. Other than this, Indian Internet firms are expanding their business internationally and one of them is Zomato. Jabong has already entered into UK market with a small office in London. Rocket Internet Printvenue is also entering into Australian and Singapore market. 

Rocket's Indian Firms expanding Globally

Rocket Internet is one of the world largest e-commerce venture capital firms. Samwer Brothers started it in 2007 in Germany. The founders gained visibility through successful investments in eBay, Groupon, Facebook, Jabong, LinkedIn, and Zynga. The company business model is to find successful internet ventures from other countries and replicate them in emerging markets.

Rocket Internet operates in more than 50 countries and has more than 75 ventures such as Zolando in Germany; Lamoda in Russia, Zalora in South East Asia, Iconic in Australia, global food delivery sites Foodpanda, and property listing sites Lamudi and Carmudi. In India, Rocket Internet operates Jabong and Printvenue. Rocket Internet wants to be world largest e-commerce platform outside the U.S and China. By the end of this year, Rocket Internet Group may close its initial public offering. It would be second e-commerce firm IPO this year, after Alibaba.

One of the Indian E-commerce firms Printvenue plans to start operations in Australia with a team of marketing, content, and sourcing. There is no competitive environment in Australia for the company. It will soon be seen in Asia-Pacific Region such as South East and Middle East too. Over the next four five years, Printvenue plans to venture into Europe, and Latin America. Printvenue is already operating in Singapore with a small team.

Earlier this month, German venture capital group decided to take online fashion retailer Jabong.com to a global platform by merging it with four other such businesses in Latin America, Russia, Middle East, South East Asia, and Australia. Jabong has also opened an office in London where a team of 15-20 people will design its private label. These steps of Rocket Internet taking portfolio companies global were always on its agenda and these are linked to upcoming IPO.

Its global online food-ordering firm, Foodpanda is continuously expanding into developing markets. Foodpanda is present in more than 45 countries across Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Latin America. After Jack Ma Alibaba, soon people will see Billionaires from Germany and Rocket Internet world largest e-commerce venture capitalist firm.