Axis bank to buy Freecharge

Private sector lender Axis Bank Ltd is nearing a deal to buy digital payments platform Freecharge for Rs 350-400 crore in cash, giving much needed breathing space to Freecharge parent company Snapdeal, which is separately in talks to sell itself to larger rival Flipkart.

By buying Freecharge, Axis Bank will get a popular digital payments brand as well as access to high-quality technology that traditional companies typically struggle to build compared with internet start-ups. Freecharge had also held lengthy talks with Paytm (One97 Communications Ltd) but chose to go with Axis Bank as the bank offered a higher price.

The sale of Freecharge will mark the most stunning collapse in India’s start-up world, even more so than that of its parent company, which has seen its fortunes dip since the start of 2016. Snapdeal bought Freecharge for $400 million in April 2015 in what was then the largest start-up deal in India. Last year, Freecharge hit the market to raise funds separately. Until late January, Snapdeal was confident Freecharge would raise fresh capital at a valuation of $700-900 million.

The Snapdeal founders, and venture capital (VC) firms Nexus Venture and Kalaari Capital have been locked in a boardroom battle that has resulted in Snapdeal and Freecharge passing up funding deals, cutting jobs and being forced to seek buyers. SoftBank disagreed with the others over the firm’s valuation in a potential sale or funding round.

Flipkart acquires eBay India

India’s largest online retailer Flipkart has closed a mammoth funding round of $1.4 Billion from Tencent Holding Ltd, eBay Inc., and Microsoft Corp., in the biggest ever start-up funding round that both boosts Flipkart ability to compete with arch-rival Amazon India and takes the company a step closer to presenting itself as the only option to the US firm’s Indian arm.

Flipkart Ltd will also buy eBay’s India business as part of the $1.4 Billion deal. The funding round values Flipkart at $11.6 Billion, which is lower than its peak valuation of $15 billion but still higher than the valuation it was assigned by some of its own investors last year. Flipkart may get additional capital soon as it is in talks to buy smaller rival Snapdeal (Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd). 

The deal valued eBay’s India unit at $200-$250 million. eBay India will continue to operate its platform as a unit of Flipkart; it becomes the latest acquisition for Flipkart, which has bought the fashion retailers Myntra and Jabong as well as mobile payments app PhonePe in the past three years. The Bengaluru-based online retailer fetched a pre-money valuation of $10.2 billion in the latest round. Pre-money refers to the value of the company excluding the round’s capital infusion.

 Before this round, Flipkart had last raised funds in June 2015 when existing investors led by Tiger Global Management pumped $700 million into the company, valuing it at $15 billion. Since starting out in 2007, Flipkart has raised nearly $5 billion in capital, accounting for more than 45% of funds raised by all 10 Indian unicorns, which include Snapdeal, Paytm, Ola and Quikr. Amazon has committed $5 billion toward its Indian operations, of which it has already spent more than $2 billion.

Pigeon Express to acquire GoJavas

Courier service provider Pigeon Express Pvt. Ltd is in advanced talks to acquire e-commerce focused logistics service provider GoJavas (Quickdel Logistics Pvt. Ltd) which suspended operations last week amid an organization overhaul, in a cash stock deal.

GoJavas, which counts Snapdeal (Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd) as a key investor, had started scouting for possible suitors after a bid by Snapdeal for a complete buyout fell through. Besides Pigeon Express, the company had also held talks with another Delhi based courier service provider, Trackon Couriers Pvt. Ltd.

Delhi headquartered Pigeon Express was founded in 2004. The company handles doorstep pickup and delivery of bulk packets, parcels and other consignments, essentially competing with larger rivals such as DHL, DTDC and Bluedart. The company claims to handle 1.2 lakh deliveries every day and has 135 delivery centers across the country. Snapdeal and Jabong together accounted for more than 80% of GoJavas overall business.

Logistics and supply chain are the backbone of e-commerce firms as sound infrastructure helps reduce delivery costs and ensures faster delivery which in turn helps win over customers. GoJavas primarily competed with Flipkart’s logistics firm eKart, Delhivery, Ecom Express Pvt. Ltd and Dotzot, the e-commerce focused arm of DTDC. 

Snapdeal acquires TargetingMantra

Snapdeal.com, India’s second largest e-commerce company has acquired TargetingMantra (Insightful Pvt. Ltd) Gurugram based marketing and personalization Services Company for an undisclosed amount.

The Targeting Mantra team comes with valuable experience in driving superior customer experience through machine learning. The companies did not disclose the financial details of the transaction. The TargetingMantra team will help in building the customer experience solutions that will personalize shopping experiences for customers.

Founded in March 2013, TargetingMantra specializes in building products for enhancing customer buying experience, increasing conversion rates through intuitive product discovery, recommendations and channel selection. Snapdeal, founded in 2010 has become the biggest local rival to Flipkart. It raised $200 Million from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and others in February and with this round of investment the company’s valuation has risen to $6.5 Billion.

Ola acquires Qarth

Taxi hailing service Ola, run by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has acquired Mobile payments company, Qarth in an attempt to strengthen its mobile wallet service Ola Money launched in November last year. Qarth, which runs a mobile payments app called X-Pay, is Ola second investment in the payment space.

The move comes at a time when e-commerce leaders such as Flipkart Ltd and Snapdeal are strengthening their payment business through acquisitions. Flipkart acquired a majority stake in payment services startup FX Mart Pvt. Ltd in September last year, while Snapdeal acquired utility payment service company Freecharge for $400 Million in March last year, in the biggest ever consumer Internet deal in India.

Ola Money cannot only be used to make payments for Ola rides, but also for other online platforms such as Online eyewear store Lenskart, hotel aggregator Oyo Rooms, music streaming app Saavn and hyperlocal electronics retailer such as Zopper. Such services throws open an additional revenue stream for Ola, with the ride hailing service still being loss making, and also puts the service in direct competition with bigger rivals such as Paytm and Freecharge.

Ola, which launched food and grocery delivery services last year, shuttered both verticals earlier this month to focus on its core offering of transportation. The move came amid growing competition from Uber, which claims about 50% of the Indian Market. The two companies have rolled out services such as ride sharing, carpooling and even bike taxis and have been slashing fares in an attempt to acquire customers. 

Shopclues to buy Mobile Payments start-up Momoe

Online shopping platform Shopclues.com is in advanced talks to buy mobile payments firm Momoe Technologies, as it looks to add a payment service to its platform. The all-stock deal, could value Bengaluru based Momoe at anywhere between $8 Million and $15 Million.

Shopclues was looking to invest close to $50 Million in either buying stakes or acquiring start-ups in the Hyperlocal, ad-tech and internet payments domains in order to accelerate expansion in India’s fast growing e-commerce market. Shopclues will use Momoe Technology to strengthen its payment network for merchants on its platform and will further integrate it with its hyperlocal commerce business.

During the past 12-18 months, large e-commerce firms have made investments, acquisitions and partnerships with payments companies to claim a share of the digital payments vertical, which helps reduce the dependency on cash and makes it convenient for online shopping. In February, Amazon announced acquisition of online payments firm Emvantage Payments Pvt. Ltd.

Snapdeal acquired mobile wallet firm FreeCharge in April 2015, and Flipkart bought payments services company FX Mart Pvt. Ltd in August 2015. Momoe was founded in 2014. The company primarily provides payment solutions for offline merchants. It allows customers to make digital payments using the Momoe app on their mobile phones. Momoe rose close to $1.2 Million from IDG Ventures India, Jungle Ventures and India Quotient. India’s e-commerce market is estimated to touch $100 Billion by April 2020.

Amazon to buy Emvantage Payments

Online marketplace Amazon said it will buy online payments firm Emvantage Payments Pvt. Ltd. to develop India specific payments solution. The announcement comes shortly after Amazon infused an additional Rs. 1696 crore into its India Unit (Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd) in December 2015, to take on local rivals Flipkart and Snapdeal.

Large e-commerce companies have made significant investments, acquisitions and partnerships with payment companies to claim a share of the fast growing digital payments vertical which helps reduce the dependency on cash and make it convenient for online shopping. The Indian e-commerce market is estimated to grow to $100 Million by April 2020. Emvantage employees will join Amazon payments team.

Jasper Info Tech Pvt. Ltd. run online marketplace Snapdeal launched its mobile wallet through its utility payments unit FreeCharge in September 2015. The company had set aside Rs. 1000 crore towards cash back offers and discounts among other initiatives to attract more consumers to FreeCharge Digital Wallet. Snapdeal had acquired FreeCharge for $450 Million in April 2015.

Flipkart had acquired payments services company FX Mart Pvt. Ltd. in August 2015. ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd. cab aggregator Ola had made its Ola Money digital wallet Available for making payments in other e-commerce platforms. 

CraftsVilla Acquires Sendd

CraftsVilla, an online marketplace for Indian products, has acquired the on-demand shipping service provider Sendd for $4.5 Million. Post-acquisition, Sendd will continue to operate independently and offer its services to other firms as well. CraftsVilla will use the acquisition to strengthen its logistics capabilities.

Founded in April last year, Sendd allows businesses to send parcels to 20,000 pin codes across India. It provides packaging, branding and insurance policies for parcels and provides an API for partner integration. The company also claims to provide reverse pickups and international shipments across all countries.

CraftsVilla was founded in 2011. It takes a 20% commission on the products sold; however, it is not clear if the company does this on per item or per order, which might include many items. The company claims to have 25,000 sellers on its platform, along with 3.5 Million sold products. In November last year, CraftsVilla raised Series C funding worth $33.3 Million after the company raised Series B funding worth $18 Million in April the same year.

Last year saw a consolidation in logistics services with various companies getting acquired or invested in by business customers or competitors. Flipkart acquired strategic minority stake in MapmyIndia to pad its supply chain and logistics operations. Grofers had acquired Townrush. Snapdeal invested in GoJavas.

PepperTap acquires Jiffstore

The Hyperlocal Delivery service provider PepperTap (Nuvo Logistics Pvt. Ltd) has acquired smaller delivery start-up Jiffstore for an undisclosed amount through cash and stock. Nuvo Logistics, which also runs a reverse logistics business said that it plans to spin off the fast growing Hyperlocal business into a new entity by February-March. Reverse Logistics is the process of handling returns or goods rejected by customers.

Nuvo works with clients such as Snapdeal, Paytm and Shopclues. Nuvo fulfills almost 10,000-12,000 orders a day and is operational across 30 cities. With this move, the company is trying to avoid passing on the valuation of the reverse logistics a profitable entity to the investors who are putting in money specifically for the Hyperlocal business. The reverse logistics business currently makes Rs. 4 Crore annual profit.

PepperTap acquisition of Jiffstore is largely to get the company team and expand its presence in Bengaluru, where Jiffstore has been operating for more than two years. Jiffstore has been operating for more than two years. Jiffstore employs close to 40 people, who are slated to join PepperTap Gurgaon and Bengaluru offices. Jiffstore had last raised an undisclosed amount from Unitus Seed Fund and Times Internet Ltd. in June.

PepperTap earns more than 90% of its revenue from the commissions it earns from shops. The rests comes from the delivery cost. It charges consumers for orders below a minimum delivery benchmark. Recently, it also started marketing activities for packaged consumer goods companies by means of banner advertisements and exclusive launches.

Snapdeal Acquires Reduce Data

India’s second largest e-commerce firm Snapdeal.com has acquired Reduce Data, a US-based advertising platform, for an undisclosed amount as online retailers bet on advertising to become a popular key business. Snapdeal has signed an acquihire deal, a deal done primarily for expertise of the acquired firm staff.

Reduce Data helps brands to deliver advertising strategies for consumers across platforms and devices. The company claims that its platform leverages artificial intelligence, real-time data and other tools, delivering high return on investment for advertising campaigns. The company currently has customers across US, UK and India.

Most large e-commerce firms, including Flipkart and Snapdeal, are trying to build large advertisement sales teams and improving their technology to show ads based on data collected on the shopping habits of millions of Indians. Ad revenues are expected to provide a much needed boost to margins for e-retailers and create an additional large revenue stream for them.

Flipkart acquired AdIQuity Technologies, a mobile advertising technology firm in March in a move to improve its ad platform. Globally too e-commerce firms get significant chunk of revenues from ads. Acquisition of Reduce Data by Snapdeal is the company latest push into strengthening its advertising business. The company introduced ads on platform in May 2014.

Snapdeal acquires Letsgomo Labs

Online marketplace Snapdeal.com had acquired Letsgomo Labs, a mobility solutions company. The move is aimed at strengthening its position in mobile commerce as online consumers in India increasingly choose to shop over their phones. Letsgomo was founded by Manav Kamboj and Vikas Banga. Its 76 member team will join Snapdeal and strengthen the organization mobile technology capabilities.

Letsgomo provides mobile technology solutions, design and strategy, besides consulting businesses in conceptualization of applications and mobile sites to implementation and hosting of the mobile platform. The company also works with leading e-commerce companies to help them strengthen their mobile capabilities.

In April, Snapdeal acquired mobile recharge service Freecharge in one of the biggest ever deals in the country start up domain, making Snapdeal one of the largest mobile commerce companies in India. In May, Snapdeal also announced the acquisition of Hyderabad based mobile technology company Martmobi for an undisclosed amount. The platform will help Snapdeal strengthen its mobile platform for sellers.

Snapdeal, promoted by New Delhi based Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd., currently gets 75% of its total orders via mobile based transactions. Some of the investors in Snapdeal include Ratan Tata, Softbank, Blackrock, and Temasek, eBay Inc., Premji Invest, Intel Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners.

Livspace acquires Dwll.in

Helion Backed home design and décor start up Livspace has announced the acquisition of Bengaluru based Dwll.in to lead the space. Founded in 2013, Dwll.in is an Indian curated online network of interior designers. This is Livspace second acquisition in less than a month. Towards the end of the March, the company had bought DezignUp, an online design community and marketplace.

As part of the deal, the co-founders of Dwll.in and the core team will join the Livspace family. With this acquisition, Livspace will start building go-to-market strategy for the western region, in addition to expanding across other metros and Tier 1 Cities. Livspace is currently projecting a revenue run rate of more than a $10 Million in months to come.

Livspace is an online shopping destination for home décor and furnishings. Also, it offers facility to hire designers on its platform. Further, the users can customize the products based on their requirements. It delivers in Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Online home décor market in India will touch $20 Billion by 2015.

Out of this $20 Billion market 40% - 50% is furniture and rest are pure home décor items such as Cutlery, kitchen items, fancy lamps etc. Other players in the online furniture space include Urban Ladder, Fab Furnish, HomeLane, CustomerFurnish, Pepperfry etc. Online market place like Snapdeal, Jabong, Homeshop18 etc. also have home décor and furnishing as one of their verticals. 

Snapdeal acquires FreeCharge

India’s largest online marketplace, Snapdeal has acquired FreeCharge, India’s fastest growing mobile transaction platform. This is one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of Internet industry in India and sets up Snapdeal to build the most impactful digital commerce ecosystem in India.

With this acquisition, Snapdeal becomes the largest mobile commerce company in India offering the widest range of products and services, including financial services, mobile recharge and utility payments with an exponentially growing user base of over 40 Million. FreeCharge is India’s leading mobile ecommerce platform where users can pay their mobile DTH and utility payments across most major operators.

Every day 75 Million mobile recharges are done in India by a section of India’s 800 Million mobile phone subscribers. FreeCharge offers a convenient and efficient solution applicable to hundreds of millions of consumers for paying utility bills, and especially doing mobile recharges, which often ends up being the first e-commerce transaction that a consumer does online given the ticket size and instant gratification.

FreeCharge will continue to function as an independent platform and all aspects of FreeCharge Shopping experience will remain intact. The companies will collaborate to offer a seamless shopping experience to customers across both the platforms offering an even wider range of products and services. Over the past six months, Snapdeal has acquired Exclusively.in, Doozton, and Wishpicker. Snapdeal also picked up a majority stake in digital financial services platform RupeePower.com.

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. 

Flipkart acquires AdIQuity

Indian E-commerce giant made its first acquisition of the year; acquired Bengaluru based AdIQuity, a global mobile ad network enabling app developers and mobile publisher’s revenues from their mobile inventory. AdIQuity is backed by VC’s like Sequoia Capital and has raised $15 Million across two rounds in 2006 and 2008.

Founded by IITian Anurag Dod, AdIQuity also facilitates ad agencies, ad networks, DSPs and other media buyers to acquire global mobile traffic. The nine year old venture claims to have 150 Million monthly active users in its network spread across 200 countries generating 25 Billion ad impressions every month. The country’s most valuable startup, valued at $11 Billion is seeking to expand its presence and capabilities by the inorganic way this year. The AdIQuity acquisition will enable.

Flipkart to boost its external marketing capabilities as it aims to diversify into online advertising and brand consulting for vendors. The additional revenues from these verticals would help Flipkart in becoming profitable prior to a listing. Having kicked off the acquisitions, it would be worth looking at the newer capabilities the company would be looking at. Last year, to strengthen its fashion vertical it bought out Myntra in one of the largest deals in the startup space.

Recently, Snapdeal acquired premium and luxury fashion retailer, Exclusively.com and Wishpicker.com, an online gift recommendation portal. While Amazon picked up a minority stake in Gift card Technology and retail firm, QwikCilver Solutions.

Snapdeal buys Exclusively.com

Snapdeal aims to strengthen its fashion business, looking to touch $2 Billion in gross merchandise value in the fashion category this year. Online marketplace, Snapdeal acquired Exclusively.com, an online portal for premium and luxury fashion, for an undisclosed amount. Luxury products and services are a $14 Billion market in India, growing at 30% year on year. More than 70% consumers want to shop for luxury products in India.

The acquisition of Exclusively is similar to that of domestic e-commerce firm and Snapdeal rival, Flipkart acquiring online fashion retailer Myntra for an estimated Rs 2,000 crore deal in May last year, making it the biggest consolidation in the e-commerce space in India. The company has brought Exclusively.com to provide its over 40 Million users access to widest range of aspirational, high-end products and services.

Under this partnership, Exclusively.com will complement Snapdeal existing ecosystem and will provide a consolidated offering for the luxury and lifestyle shopper, making it India’s first online luxury mall. Luxury and premium fashion brands across the world can now open stores in Exclusively.com online luxury mall. Exclusively.com will continue to function as an independent site and all aspects of Exclusively.com online shopping experience will remain intact, with new collection and service augmentations in the pipeline.

The firm expects the luxury products portal to reach a GMV of USD 100 Million by 2015 end and USD 1 Billion in next three years. Exclusively.com today retails hundreds of India’s leading designers on its site, including Manish Malhotra, Tarun Tahiliani, Manish Arora, Ritu Kumar, and Varun Bahl. This year, Exclusively.com plans to launch leading international luxury brands and designers on the site. Snapdeal has so far risen over USD 1.5 Billion from a clutch of investors that include Japan Softbank and Ratan Tata.

Snapdeal to buy Unicommerce

Unicommerce eSolutions Pvt. Ltd is an e-commerce management software and fulfillment solution provider is in talks to buy with Snapdeal for a potential acquisition. New Delhi based Unicommerce, which currently provides its software to companies such as Myntra, Snapdeal, Jabong, Groupon, and Healthkart, has received investment from Nexus Venture Partners and Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.

Three Indian Institute of Technology founded Unicommerce in 2012, Delhi graduates Ankit Pruthi, Karun Singla, and Vibhu Garg. The company offers a pay per use Web Based solution that helps small merchants and e-commerce companies manage orders from the time they are placed until products are delivered. The company flagship product, Uniware, updates and automates every aspect of online commerce beginning from when a customer places an order until the purchase is received.

It also helps companies manage everything from vendors to inventory, and from warehouse to shipments and returns. Unicommerce was also in talks with Tiger Global for a potential investment. After the deal, Unicommerce is expected to operate as a separate company. As per experts, companies would be apprehensive about sharing their data with Unicommerce if it becomes a part of Snapdeal.

For Snapdeal, 2014 has been active year with respect to acquisitions. The company this month announced acquisition of gifting recommendation technology platform Wishpicker.com for an undisclosed amount. The company has so far acquired five companies including Doozton, a social product discovery technology platform; Grabbon.com, eSportsBuy.com, and Shopo.in. However, if Snapdeal inks the deal, it will be its largest acquisition until date.

Snapdeal acquires Wishpicker.com

After raising USD 627 Million from Japan Softbank online marketplace Snapdeal.com, owned by Jasper InfoTech Pvt. Ltd. has acquired gifting recommendation technology platform Wishpicker.com for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition of Wishpicker comes seven months after Snapdeal acquired Doozton, a social product discovery technology platform. Wishpicker is Snapdeal fifth acquisition. The company had earlier acquired Grabbon.com, esportsbuy.com, and shopo.in.

Wishpicker offers gifting options based on different parameters like relationship with recipient, their age, and personality. The current acquisition enables Snapdeal to enter into the personalized gift segment. Wishpicker brings with it an edge to the premier market place. Snapdeal, an intelligent recommendation user experience is helping users to discover the unique gift ideas from across the internet. Users can also find gift suggestions based on a person’s social media activities like Facebook “likes” and other interests listed on social media.

With over 30 million members and more than 50,000 sellers, Snapdeal.com delivers products to 5,000 cities and towns in India. Snapdeal has received funding from several global marquee investors like Softbank, Blackrock, Temasek, eBay, Premji Invest, Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Ratan Tata, Nexus Venture Partners, and Kalaari Capital.

Snapdeal currently claims to offer more than five million products across 500 plus categories on its platform. The firm aims to expand its merchant base to one million in the next three years. Online retail is valued at $3.1 Billion and is estimated to grow to $22 Billion in five years. Snapdeal has now become one of the fastest growing and among the top three online marketplaces in India.  

Future Group and Amazon Partnership

From being dismissive about the potential of e-commerce in India to joining hands with the sector, leading ‘brick and mortar’ retailing entities seem to have had a chance of thinking on the former. A week after Future group Kishore Biyani alleged that online retailers were indulging in predatory pricing, the company announced a partnership with Amazon India.

The two companies will jointly sell goods over the internet amid growing friction between online and offline retailers over heavy discounting. Future group will sell more than 45 own labels of apparel, followed by in-house brands in the home, electronics and food categories, while the US headquartered company will handle order fulfillment and customer service for the merchandise on its portal. Both firms will also develop a new line of products across categories to be exclusively sold at Amazon and Future Group’s retail stores.

In its home market, Amazon had similar alliances with retailers such as Target Corp and Toys R US in the past decade though both sourced over time once the online seller gained scale and attracted other large brands. Following the India deal, Future Group’s four dozen own brands such as Lee Cooper, John Miller and Indigo nation will be taken off from online marketplaces where they are currently being sold.

It is also reported that Amazon is planning to open its first brick and mortar store in New York. The company main rivals in India are Flipkart, Snapdeal and other online stores. In the offline market, just three companies – Aditya Birla Madura Garments, Arvind Brands and Future Group either own or sell more than two dozen brands each, thus becoming the preferred options for any online player looking to partner retailers.

Industry insiders also said the Indian retailers move reflects a bid to expand into new distribution channels such as e-commerce in the search of growth. Last month, Snapdeal agreed to create Croma Flagship store on its e-commerce portal to sell electronics items including mobiles, tablets, and laptops. 

Cognizant Buys Trizetto

Cognizant is a global leader in information technology, consulting, and business process services. It provide services such as claims processing, billing and call center operations to insurers, hospitals and some state run health care exchanges set up under President Barack Obama’s affordable care Act, as known as Obamacare. Colorado based Trizetto provides information technology services, including care management and the administration of benefits. 

Cognizant struck up its biggest deal, acquiring healthcare IT services provider Trizetto Corp for $2.7 Billion. It is the biggest acquisition in Indian IT sector. Healthcare is undergoing structural shifts due to reform, cost pressure, and shifting responsibilities between payers and providers. Trizetto will provide Cognizant to increase their market share. In 2008, Apax acquired Cognizant, a London based private equity firm. Trizetto was built up through 16 acquisitions in last 15 years, according to their website. It serves about 350 health care plans and supplies software to almost 245,000 doctors and other care providers.

Following this acquisition, Cognizant grip on the segment will increase further, leaving behind peers like WIPRO, Infosys, and TCS. At present, healthcare accounts for around 26 percent of Cognizant revenue, which is estimated to go up to 30 percent on integration with Trizetto. Cognizant and Trizetto have had a long-term relationship. This acquisition represents a great opportunity to integrate services across three horizons. Traditional IT services, high growth businesses like management consulting, business process services, and IT infrastructure services and will provide greater value to clients.

There are lot of acquisitions and changes going on in Indian Healthcare sector. E-commerce sector is focusing on providing medical facilities online. Companies like Ranbaxy, Cipla, and Sun Pharma are into manufacturing of new medical products. IT sector is all set to provide services to clients and hospitals. Tech giants are developing products which includes health apps or which can tell people health status. We can assume that technology is going to play a major role in Healthcare sector and it is going to benefit millions of people. It is estimated that Healthcare business is to grow at a rapid pace.