Online classifieds platform Quikr
India Pvt. Ltd has acquired Stepni, a Bengaluru based start-up that connects
vehicle owners with service providers for an undisclosed amount. Quikr has been
driving a verticalization exercise, under which the company is focusing on five
key business segments – automobiles, real estate, jobs, services, and
customer-to-customer sales.
The acquisition of Stepni is
expected to help Quikr strengthen car-related services under the QuikrCars
vertical, as well as boost its services business, QuikrServices. Stepni,
founded in October 2015, claims to have a network of more than 125 service
centres across Bangalore. As a classified portal, Quikr has just one rival,
OLX, which is backed by Naspers Ltd, a South African Mass media company.
In car segment, Quikr competes with
the likes of Warburg Pincus backed CarTrade, which has so far raised at least
$185 Million from investors, and CarDekho, which has raised at least $90
Million from Sequoia Capital and Google Capital. The real estate segment has
businesses such as Housing, Magicbricks, PropTiger and others. Similarly, the
Hyperlocal services segment has deep pocketed start-ups such as Housejoy and
UrbanClap, while in the jobs category, the likes of Babajob and Aassan Jobs compete
with Quikr.
Quikr is growing beyond a listing
platform to a one-stop shop for used goods by enabling payments on its
platform, as well as facilitating logistics, a move likely to throw open
additional revenue channels at a time when a slowdown in external funding is
prompting start-ups to reduce cash burn and focus on profitability. The company
has been investing aggressively to build the five verticals by both acquiring
companies and making strategic investments.
