Facebook acquired Scape Technologies

Scape Technologies, the London based computer vision startup working on location accuracy beyond the capabilities of GPS, has been acquired by Facebook.

Scape’s backers included Entrepreneur First (EF) — the startup is an alumnus of the company builder program — along with LocalGlobe, Mosaic Ventures, and Fly Ventures.

Founded in 2017, Scape Technologies was developing a “Visual Positioning Service” based on computer vision which lets developers build apps that require location accuracy far beyond the capabilities of GPS alone.

The technology initially targeted augmented reality apps, but also had the potential to be used to power applications in mobility, logistics and robotics. More broadly, Scape wanted to enable any machine equipped with a camera to understand its surroundings.

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.

Swiggy acquires Scootsy

Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has acquired Scootsy, an intracity delivery service provider in an all-cash deal. Scootsy provides delivery service for restaurants, toys & beauty products and electronics items among others.

Scootsy is a well-loved brand that enjoys loyalty from both its restaurant partners and the consumer. With a shared belief of providing a superior user experience, its addition will extend the convenience and reliability that Swiggy is synonymous. Swiggy will strengthen Scootsy curated restaurant network and help the brand expand to newer cities using Swiggy operational strength. Scootsy will continue to operate as an independent app post the acquisition.

For Swiggy, the acquisition of Mumbai-based Scootsy is in line with its vision to provide a superior consumer experience and the widest restaurant choices for consumers. It will extend the breadth and selection of Swiggy existing network of 40,000 restaurants by adding more curated restaurants to it. Scootsy was founded in 2015. Last year, it raised $3.6 million from Agnus Capital and Khattar Holdings.

The acquisition will enable Scootsy expansion across Mumbai and also support its foray into four to five major Indian cities in the coming months. Swiggy, which started in August 2014, is one of the fastest Indian start-ups to reach a valuation of $1 billion. In June, Swiggy announced that it has raised $210 million from a group of investors, led by Naspers and billionaire Yuri Milner’s DST Global. The fund raise valued Swiggy at about $1.3 billion.

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.

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.

Flipkart buys back logistic arm

India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart Ltd has bought backs its logistics business from WS Retail Services Pvt. Ltd., the largest seller on its platform, and a company with which it has close links, in an effort to simplify its structure ahead of a possible share sale a few years later.

The acquisition has been made through a new entity called Instakart Services Pvt. Ltd. The deal leaves WS Retail with only a trading business, which is also gradually being wound down as Flipkart shifts to a market place model from an inventory led one. Flipkart wanted to buy back the logistic arm as it is preparing for an IPO over the next few years and wants to make its complex structure simpler.

Deal was at fair value to prove arm’s length distance was maintained between Flipkart and WS Retail. Since Flipkart logistics arm was moved to WS Retail in 2012, the business would have significantly increased in value. Since India bans FDI in online retail, Flipkart has devised a complicated maze of many inter-connected and some purportedly independent entities that receive the massive amounts of money it raises to build an integrated e-commerce business.

WS Retail is one of the most important entities in this structure. To get around FDI rules, Flipkart created WS Retail in 2009 as a seller on its site. As part of a complex arrangement, WS Retail bought goods from Flipkart India Pvt. Ltd, the B2B arm of the main group holding company and sold the same goods to customers on Flipkart site. WS Retail also owned and ran Flipkart key logistics business called e-kart that delivered products to customers.

BigBasket acquires Delyver

Founded in December 2011, BigBasket is an online grocery store. BigBasket has acquired logistics startup Delyver in a cash and stock transaction to bolster its capacity to deliver fast and compete with agile players in the segment like Grofers, PepperTap and LocalBanya. BigBasket will employ Delyver orders in 90 minutes.

BigBasket is likely to leverage Delyver expertise in hyper local delivery to roll out one hour delivery services in the six cities in which it is present i.e. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Pune, and Mumbai. It was a cash and stock deal with 50% of the amount being paid in cash. Delyver will continue to operate as a separate business while Big Basket will deploy its fleet of two-wheelers to facilitate timely delivery.

Delyver will scale to the 50 cities as and when Big Basket enters a new market. Delyver specializes in delivering orders within one hour from stores across categories such as food, vegetables and flowers. It will continue with its existing categories instead of restricting itself to just groceries. The hyper local avenue is witnessing a surge of innovations as more and more players are entering the field.

With technology snowballing or advancing to higher levels, the scope for these players is rendered wide open; the potential of this segment is estimated to be so high that even the big fish in the market have registered themselves to compete. While Amazon India has already made an entry into the Indian market with its Kirana Now, Ola has started its pilot project to deliver groceries.