Next Education buys Xolvr

Next Education, a Hyderabad based learning solutions provider for K-12 students, has acqui-hired Gurugram based education technology startup Xolvr. This is the company’s third acquisition in the past 12 months.

Xolvr connects students from grades six to 12 with undergraduate IIT students, who don the hat of a tutor and help them with students such as Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science among others, through video conferencing and using a shared whiteboard. This acqui-hire will add a new element to LearnNext by offering students with a platform to access over 50 tutors.

The move, which is aimed at adding a human element to the product, will be launched in July next year. Students who subscribe to LearnNext will have the option of taking one-to-one sessions with tutors on the platform. Next Education previously acquired the robotics lab programme RoboLAB from ThinkLABS and InOpen Technologies, which gives the company access to their computer science product.

MockBank acqui-hires Litoro

MockBank Learning Pvt. Ltd, a test preparation start-up for government jobs has acquired Vijayawada based web and mobile services company Litoro Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd.  The purchase is part of a so-called acqui-hire strategy in which one company buys another to gain access to the target talent pool rather than its products and services.

Litoro was founded in 2012. In September, MockBank raised $400,000 in a seed round of funding led by Blume Ventures. Singapore based angel fund Mercatus Capital and angel investors such as SlideShare co-founder Amit Ranjan and Bain and Co. India chairman Srivatsan Rajan also participated in the round.

MockBank focuses on jobs related to the banking financial services and insurance sector, including public sector banks, Reserve Bank of India and Life Insurance Corporation of India. MockBank also plans to explore categories like civil and judicial services, engineering and teaching. The company claims to have more than 100,000 users over 5,000 among them being paying customers. MockBank charges customers between Rs. 150 and Rs. 6000 depending on the services.

India has become the largest e-learning market after the US, and the sector is projected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 17.4% between 2013 and 2018, twice as fast as the global average. At least 73 companies in the online education segment have raised institutional capital this year. About $63 Million have been pumped into this sector since 2014, while Simplilearn which has raised $28 Million, and Toppr with about $12.2 Million.

Grofers Acquires Townrush

Hyperlocal delivery startup Grofers has bought business-to-business logistics service provider Townrush, closing its second acquisition within a week. Earlier this week, Gurgaon based Grofers had acquired SpoonJoy. Both acquisitions are essentially acqui-hires where a company is bought for the team instead of its existing business.

Founded in May this year, Townrush had raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from Lightspeed Venture Partners. Grofers is one of the most well capitalized start-ups in the Hyperlocal delivery segment, having raised $45 Million from Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management. Grofers is making these acquisitions primarily for the teams with no significant cash or equity being exchanged.

Townrush closed down in six months. The company used to compete with Roadrunnr, Parcelled, Shadowfax, and Grab, among others. At least 20 such start-ups have emerged in the last 10 months, making it an overcrowded space. However, only Roadrunnr and Shadowfax have raised any significant capital, mopping up $11 Million and $8.5 Million.

Hyperlocal delivery saw a huge amount of ventures spring up this year but many have found it difficult to raise follow on capital. The unit economics in the delivery business is a big challenge. In 2015, as many as 290 startups received seed funding, up almost 90% from last year, but follow on rounds have been muted despite the glut in initial rounds.

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. 

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.