Oyo in talks to acquire FreshMenu

Gurugram based hospitality chain OYO Hotels and Homes is in talks to acquire Bengaluru based cloud Kitchen startup FreshMenu in a deal worth $50 Mn - $60 Mn. FreshMenu shareholder Zodius Capital may be paid in cash while, the founders and investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and GrowthStory will be allocated Oyo shares, if the deal is finalized.

If the deal goes through successfully, Oyo will make its foray into online food delivery business. The move is said to enhance its hospitality business portfolio and food is an essential element to its operations. Bengaluru-based FreshMenu had been looking to raise capital for the last few months. The deal is being considered as a win-win proposition for both the companies.

Oyo is building a food team, which will help FreshMenu expand to more cities under the Oyo brand name. The idea could be more about adding the element of food to further build the hospitality business rather than getting into the food delivery entirely.

FreshMenu clocks about 15,000-20,000 orders daily and if Oyo acquires the startup kitchen, it will leverage highly on the company's infrastructure of 170,000 rooms across India. Oyo's advanced rounds of these discussions with FreshMenu follow after it recently rose close to $1 billion from Japan's SoftBank with participation from ride-hailing companies Grab and Didi Chuxing taking up its valuation to $5 billion.

Delhivery acquires Aramex

Gurugram based logistics provider for ecommerce companies, Delhivery, has acquired the India Business of Dubai based logistics firm Aramex for an undisclosed amount. Aramex provides logistics for major ecommerce companies such as Amazon India. In 2016, the company had invested in online hyperlocal Delhivery service for restaurants Grab.in, and Jaipur intra-city B2B logistics service provider, Logisure.

Delhivery will now take over Aramex India’s pick-up and delivery shipment operations. However, Aramex will continue to focus on its global competencies of express and freight and will continue the international business in the country. Delhivery was founded in 2011. As of December 2018, the company claimed to be catering its logistics service in more than 600 cities with 12 fulfillment centres for B2C and B2B services.

The startup, which counts Carlyle and Tiger Global as investors, works with ecommerce companies such as Flipkart and Paytm. Speculation was rife earlier that Japan’s SoftBank Vision Fund is reportedly looking to acquire 37.87% stake in Delhivery, and has reportedly sought approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Logistics is the brain behind the supply chain industry. Over the years, startups in this sector have come up with innovative new technologies with logistics-related software solutions, last-mile delivery, robotics, automation solutions. Indian logistics sector is currently valued at $160 Bn and is poised to hit $215 Bn by 2020.

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.

Paytm buys savings management app Balance

Paytm, the digital payments provider run by One97 communications Pvt. Ltd, has acquired savings management application Balance Tech for an undisclosed sum. t will help enhance Paytm’s user and merchant interface.

Bengaluru-based Balance Technology Pvt. Ltd helps users invest in debt mutual funds, allowing them to earn interest up to 8.7% per annum, without a lock-in period. SoftBank and Alibaba-backed Paytm last month bought New Delhi-based technology start-up Cube26 for an undisclosed amount along with ticketing platform Ticket New for $40 million in May this year.

Founded in 2015, Balance had raised ₹1.5 crore from Bengaluru-based Rainmatter Technology, a fintech fund and incubator managed by stock broking firm Zerodha last year.

Ola Buys Ridlr

India’s largest cab-hailing firm Ola has bought transportation information provider Ridlr, as it looks to expand its fledgling public transportation business that has become an important battlefront in its fight with arch-rival Uber.

Ola started out as a private cab aggregator in 2011, but it has since added auto rickshaws and yellow taxis. After a slow start, Ola’s auto rickshaw business has become a differentiator for the company against Uber over the past year. With the acquisition of Ridlr, Ola plans to add bus, metro and train ticket bookings on its platform and try and become a hub of urban transportation for customers.

The move to expand its public transportation business is one of Ola’s most ambitious efforts. Cab rides comprise a minuscule part of urban transportation. If Ola can build an early, meaningful lead in bus and train bookings, it will become difficult for Uber to catch up with its local rival. Ola and Uber, both of which count Japan’s SoftBank Group as their largest shareholder, have been locked in an expensive market-share battle.

Since starting out in 2012, Mumbai-based Ridlr had raised $7-8 million in capital. Its last funding round was in July 2016 when Times Internet, Matrix Partners and Qualcomm Ventures invested $6 million in the firm. Ridlr provides data on bus and train routes and prices in 19 cities and allows users to book tickets for public transportation services. It also provides real-time traffic information.

Ola acquires Foodpanda India Unit

Ola, operated by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has acquired food delivery start-up Foodpanda India from its German Parent Delivery Hero AG in an all-stock deal that will see the ride hailing major infuse $200 Million in Foodpanda India operations. Under the deal, Foodpanda’s India business will be transferred to Ola in exchange for the latter’s stock.

The deal marks Ola’s foray into the online food ordering and delivery segment, a business shaped in India by the likes of Zomato and Swiggy, and one where Ola’s biggest rival, Uber, has been making strides recently through its unit UberEATS. Ola too tested what it called Ola Cafe in 2014, but shut down the unit shortly after. The collaboration between Ola and Foodpanda India unlocks the power of a partnership that will help Foodpanda India grow as the most preferred online food delivery service in the country.

The deal comes months after Bengaluru-based Ola raised a huge $1.1 billion (another $1 billion is likely to come in soon) from SoftBank Group and Tencent Holdings to strengthen its position in India. Mobility start-ups with terabytes of data on local routes and consumer app usage patterns are generally believed to be better placed in running a delivery business. In 2014, San Francisco-based Uber launched UberEATS as a pilot project and has since taken the service to 27 countries—and seven Indian cities in quick succession since May this year.

Foodpanda India was set up as the local unit of Berlin-based Foodpanda GmbH, a Rocket Internet portfolio firm, in 2012. The company has had a tough stint in India, given service quality issues, layoffs and ceding of market share to rivals. Last year, Delivery Hero acquired Foodpanda GmbH but the deal did not have a substantial trickle-down impact on India operations.

Paytm to acquire Travel portal Via.com

Flush with funds from Japan Softbank, digital wallet and e-commerce company Paytm is eyeing another acquisition. The payments firm has held preliminary talks to acquire online travel company via.com. Paytm, which is run by One97 Communications Ltd, is looking to invest close to $80 million to acquire the Bengaluru-based travel portal.

In March this year, the Alibaba-backed Paytm tied up with US-based online travel portal Priceline Group’s Booking.com, to expand its travel business. The company then said it will invest Rs 300 crore to further grow this business and that it is also looking to ramp up its Bengaluru-based travel marketplace team to over 250 people in the next two quarters. Paytm’s travel marketplace enables users to book hotels, flights, trains and bus tickets on a fast, secure and convenient platform. In January 2017, the Noida-headquartered company claimed to have crossed $500 million in annualized gross merchandise value.

Via.com, owned and operated by Flightraja Travels Pvt Ltd, was founded in 2007 as an offline business-to-business travel site. It currently functions as a travel deals aggregator and ticket booking site. Its inventory includes ticketing in flights, hotels, holiday packages as well as car and bus services. The firm had raised $5 million from Indo US Venture Partners (now Kalaari Capital) in 2007 and followed it up with a $10 million round from Sequoia Capital in December 2009.

Following its $200 million funding from Alibaba and SAIF Partners into to its e-commerce arm in March this year and $1.4 billion from SoftBank in May this year, Paytm has been on a multi-pronged expansion drive. It has made a number of investments and acquisitions and effected key appointments, internal movements, and new business strategies. Earlier this month, the company was in talks to acquire deal discovery app Little and online deals startup Nearbuy to strengthen its hyperlocal play.

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.

Housing.com acqui-hires Plat, BigBHK

Property website Housing.com, run by Locon Solutions Pvt. Ltd., announced two acqui-hires for an undisclosed amount to boost its supply product portfolio. Acqui-hiring is the process by which one company acquires another to gain access to its employees. In such an acquisition, the acquiring company may or may not have any interest in the target company’s products and services.

Housing.com bought Plat, an online network for agents enabling them to share real estate inventories and BigBHK, property management software (PMS) targeted at rental suppliers. With these acqui-hires, Housing.com acquires quality talent from premier institutions such as IIT Delhi and BITS Pilani. Softbank and other investors in the Mumbai based realty website are trying to cut costs, restructure businesses and boost revenues as part of a plan to turn the firm profitable.

Housing.com has hired restructuring advisory firm Alvarez and Marsal Holdings, LLC. The hiring of Alvarez and Marsal stems from the need to reorient the firm’s strategy following months of turmoil between investors and Yadav over the running of Housing.com. The acqui-hire will empower partners and consumers to better manage their property portfolio ensuring convenience and transparency.

Plat will help Housing.com to help drive efficiencies in communications and operations such as posting leads and enhancing property showcase experience, thereby closing deals faster. While BigBHK helps the firm to help its partners to manage their property portfolios with a comprehensive web based property management solution. BigBHK runs successful operations across Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune and is soon entering into Chennai. 

Olacabs to acquire TaxiForSure

Taxi aggregators are readying themselves to take on the global giant Uber, once the regulatory issues are cleared in India. Olacabs, the Indian startup supported by Japan Softbank’s is buying its rival TaxiForSure, signaling consolidation in the nascent taxi app market. Key investors in TaxiForSure include Accel partners and Qualcomm.

The deal, which is estimated to be worth around $200-250 Million, will be second largest deal in the customer internet space after Flipkart $370 Million acquisition of Myntra. It will make Olacabs the leader in taxi aggregator business in India valued at $2 Billion. Ola is likely to pay cash and also offer stock to acquire TaxiForSure. Apart from taking on the $40 billion Uber, the move is also aimed at lowering the cost.

Globally too taxi aggregators are in talks to form an international alliance against Uber, potentially linking up regional players including Olacabs, Singapore Grab Taxi, and San Francisco based Flywheel. Though, none of the Indian Taxi aggregator companies have started making profit yet, TaxiForSure, run by Bangalore based Senrendipity Infolabs, seems to be in urgent need for financial support.

Olacabs, cofounded by IIT Bombay alumnus Bhavish Aggarwal and his college mate Ankit Bhati, received $210 million in funding led by Japanese communications conglomerate Softbank in October. TaxiForSure had snagged $30 Million from Accel and Qualcomm, but Olacabs fundraising demonstrated that momentum had swung its way. IIM Ahmedabad graduates Raghunandan G and Aprameya Radhakrishna found TaxiForSure.