Paytm acquires TicketNew parent Orbgen Technologies

Digital payments giant Paytm has acquired Orbgen Technologies Private limited, the entity that operates TicketNew, a Chennai based online ticketing platform. With the acquisition, Paytm is seeking to connect its more than 300 Mn customers to TicketNew partner cinemas and further invest in helping grow their occupancy and revenues.

Paytm claimed that its entertainment arm has increased its online penetration in India by more than 50%. The company has also built a strong business in south India and is working exclusively with iconic single screen theatres and regional multiplex chains including Suresh Productions, V Celluloid, SVC, and Anusri Cinemas among others in the region.

Inc42 had earlier reported that the digital payments giant was inching towards advanced talks with the Alibaba Pictures-owned TicketNew to acquire the company. The value of the deal was pegged at $30 Mn-$40 Mn. Alibaba Pictures, the entertainment arm of Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group, had acquired a majority stake in TicketNew on June 5, 2017, making the acquisition its first outside China in the Internet ticketing industry.

Prior to this, Paytm Entertainment had a ticketing partnership with SPI Cinemas, which owns landmark properties such as Sathyam Cinemas, Le Rêve, and The Cinema, in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.

CureFit Healthcare acquires Fitness First

Healthcare and fitness start-up CureFit Healthcare Pvt. Ltd has bought Oaktree Capital backed fitness chain Fitness First to expand its presence in Delhi and enter the lucrative Mumbai market.

CureFit will retain the Fitness First brand and add 10 fitness centres to bring its overall centre count to 50 fitness outlets. The firm will sell food subscriptions and its products to users of Fitness First. CureFit currently operates in Bengaluru and NCR.

Fitness First is the latest acquisition for CureFit, which previously bought boutique fitness brands Cult and The Tribe, yoga chain a1000yoga as well as Bengaluru-based kitchen Kristys Kitchen to launch its food business. CureFit was founded in 2016 by Bansal, who was co-founder of fashion retailer Myntra, and Nagori, ex-chief business officer at Flipkart. Bansal and Nagori worked closely at Flipkart after the company bought Myntra in 2014.

CureFit was in talks to raise $75 million from new and existing investors to expand its fitness and food verticals and enter new businesses. The company has so far raised $55 million in equity and debt from Accel Partners, IDG Ventures, Kalaari Capital, UC-RNT Fund and others.

Microsoft acquires Semantic Machines

Microsoft is betting big on Artificial Intelligence. The Redmond, Washington based technology giant announced the acquisition of Semantic Machines, a company focused on building conversational AI. The move could help give Cortana the leg up it needs on competitors like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Semantic has previously worked with major tech firms, leading automatic speech recognition development for Apple’s Siri. In essence, Semantic employs machine learning in order to provide context to chatbot conversations, making dialogue seem a bit more natural and better-flowing.

Microsoft is by no means the only company trying to make strides when it comes to artificial intelligence and its smart assistants. Amazon, for example, is trying to give Alexa a better memory, while Google is making bots so human-esque that they’re practically indistinguishable from humans during phone conversations with its new Duplex offering.

Adobe to acquire Magento

Adobe plans to get into the online shopping business by paying $1.68 Billion for e-commerce Company Magento commerce. Adobe is known for its Photoshop tools. But it’s quickly expanding into other businesses as it looks for new areas of growth.

Companies like Canon and designer Paul Smith use Magento’s technology to operate their online stores. Both Adobe and Magento share similar customers like Warner Music Group, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé, Adobe said. Having similar customers is significant because Adobe can better cross-sell its various tools and services.

Magento, founded in 2007, was acquired for an undisclosed amount by eBay in 2011. A few months after eBay split with digital payment processing company PayPal in 2015, eBay sold its enterprise software unit, including Magento, to investors Sterling Partners and Permira Funds for $925 million. Last year, Magento raised $250 million from Chinese investment firm Hillhouse at a reported private valuation of $700 million.

Salesforce is the 10,000-pound gorilla in this space with revenue across its various clouds reaching more than $8 billion last year. The company is on a run rate to exceed $10 billion in 2018. It has set a long-term company goal to reach $60 billion in annual revenue by 2034.

EarlySalary buys CashCare

Pune based online lender EarlySalary has acquired Mumbai headquartered startup CashCare, which gives consumer loans through non-banking financial companies, for an undisclosed amount.

CashCare analyses a user’s shopping and wallet data to instantly convert online purchases into EMI-based loans without credit card. This is known as checkout finance. The company has partnered 30 companies whose products the user can purchase, such as MakeMyTrip, ShopClues, Byju’s and HP. For financing the loans, it has partnered non-banking financial companies.

Owned and operated by Social Worth Technologies Pvt. Ltd, EarlySalary was founded in 2015. The three-year-old startup offers a mobile app that allows salaried individuals to avail instant loans for an average tenure of 30 days or till the next salary cycle. Users can avail these loans in the form of salary advances or credit card cash withdrawals. The mobile app is available on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

The company claims to be doing about 25,000 loans a month, disbursing about Rs 60 crore monthly. In its most recent fundraising, the Pune-based company raised Rs 100 crore ($15.7 million) in a Series B round led by Eight Roads Ventures India in January. Existing investors IDG Ventures India, Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd. (DHFL) and Ashok Agarwal, director of forex and money transfer services firm Transcorp International Limited, also participated in the round.

Gannett to acquire WordStream

Gannett Co., Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire WordStream Inc., a provider of cloud-based software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for local and regional businesses and agencies to optimize their digital marketing services campaigns. The transaction builds upon Gannett existing data-driven digital marketing services, ReachLocal and SweetIQ.

WordStream helps thousands of businesses to harness the power of Google, Facebook and Bing by leveraging its discovery and recommendation technologies, intelligent campaign optimization, and online training programs in its cloud-based SaaS solutions. These Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solutions provide businesses and agencies the ability to manage and optimize performance and results on paid search and social advertising campaigns.

WordStream is a proven innovator and delivers a world-class customer experience. Through WordStream, ReachLocal and SweetIQ, Gannett will now be able to provide the full spectrum of digital marketing services from DIY to managed service to any local or regional business or agency.

The market for digital marketing services in the U.S. is over $90 billion and consists of both large and small clients. The addition of WordStream best-in-class DIY SaaS solutions significantly enhances Gannett capabilities and expands addressable market.

Infibeam to buy Snapdeal’s Unicommerce

Ahmedabad based Infibeam Incorporation Ltd will acquire Snapdeal’s subsidiary Unicommerce, which offers e-commerce enablement software, in a deal worth up to Rs 120 crore.

Last year, Snapdeal dumped a $950-million takeover offer from Flipkart, with Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal saying the company will pursue a fresh strategy in the Indian market. As a part of this Snapdeal 2.0 plan, it has sold its payment services unit Freecharge to Axis Bank for Rs385 crore, while its logistics arm—Vulcan Express—was acquired by Kishore Biyani’s Future Supply Chain Solutions in an all-cash deal valued at Rs35 crore.

According to Infibeam’s filing, Unicommerce eSolutions had a net worth of Rs24.63 crore and turnover of Rs20.27 crore as on 31 March. Founded in 2012, Unicommerce offers e-commerce enablement software for warehouse management and omni-channel services and has over 10,000 sellers, brands and online retailers as its clients.

Infibeam operates in e-retailing (Products business) through its flagship website infibeam.com and has Web Services business that covers software development services, web development, maintenance through BuildBazar and access to digital payment gateways amongst others.

Cognizant acquires Hedera Consulting

IT firm Cognizant has acquired privately held Hedera Consulting, a move that will strengthen the former consulting and digital transformation capabilities for clients in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Founded in 2009, Hedera specializes in business advisory and data analytics services across sectors, helping clients in areas like growth strategy, innovation, marketing, sales and customer service. In 2015, Hedera started an additional business line focusing on analytics and data excellence. With offices in Belgium and the Netherlands, the company has served clients across countries including Italy, Switzerland, the Nordics and UK and the Middle East.

By joining forces with Cognizant, Hedera are even better positioned to help clients define their strategy; transform their businesses and gain insight and competitive advantage in their fast-changing, highly competitive marketplaces. Our combined industry and local knowledge and experience, as well as our strong joint team, will better enable our customers in the Belgian and Dutch markets to extract meaning from their data and use it to effectively shape their products, services and experiences.

In the Belgian and Dutch markets, companies are re-designing their business and IT operating models for the digital era. Hedera Consulting expands our ability to help these European clients create agile and digitally transformed enterprises that can act and react to the oceans of data for deeper customer insight, new product development, and to innovate and exploit new business opportunities.

Oracle buys Vocado

Oracle has acquired Vocado, a California based firm that offers student-centric, cloud based financial aid solution for higher education institutions. Post-acquisition, Vocado will be integrated with Oracle Student cloud platform.

Vocado works with thousands of financial aid sources to optimize funding for any type of higher education learning model. The solution helps students identify eligibility and obtain financing so they can achieve their academic goals. Vocado integrates its financial aid solution with both cloud and on-premise Student Information Systems (SIS).

Oracle Student Cloud is the software major’s next-generation, cloud-based SIS designed for all academic models across every stage of the modern student lifecycle. Vocado adds the most advanced financial aid solution with a highly-automated and scalable platform. Together, their solution offers institutions the most complete SaaS solution suite in higher education, the company said in the statement.

This is Oracle’s second acquisition in the month of April. Just a week back the firm announced the acquisition of Grapeshot, an intelligent software solution for the marketers that help them decide their ad inventories. Grapeshot’s Contextual Intelligence Platform enables the rapid creation of highly-customized segments that allow marketers and their agencies to confidently avoid unsafe content that will damage brand equity, and close the loop via Moat Measurement. The platform also helps marketers extend global audience reach by targeting the most relevant context, including late-breaking news and trending themes, to complement Oracle Data Cloud’s custom audience segments.

Adobe acquires Sayspring

Adobe has acquired Sayspring, a startup that helps developer’s prototype and build the voice interfaces for their Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant Apps. All of Sayspring’s services are now available for free — but there is a catch. If you want to sign up for the service now, you’ll need an invite.

Founded in 2017, New-York based Sayspring has technology that makes it easy to design voice applications without coding. The popularity of voice assistants and smart speakers continues to grow. Already, about half of U.S. adults use voice assistants and voice will be a part of every digital interaction within a few years.

Adobe has been working to place voice commands in many of its cloud applications — like Photoshop and the Adobe Marketing Cloud — since the launch of its primary AI service, Sensei, more than a year ago. More than 100 features or services have been rolled out for Sensei since it was introduced in fall 2016, including the ability to track the performance of voice apps and services with Adobe Analytics.

Voicegram, which let Sayspring user’s record and share their conversations with Alexa, has been shut down. The Audio Converter, which used to be a standalone service, will be made part of the Sayspring platform.

Myntra acquires Witworks

Myntra has bought Bengaluru based startup Witworks, a maker of wearable devices, for an undisclosed amount, as the Flipkart owned online fashion retail firm looks to diversify and launch new categories, even as it invests heavily on newer technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

The latest acquisition effectively allows Myntra to enter the wearable business, even as the retailer is looking to go beyond core fashion and grow sales in categories such as personal care, jewelry and home accessories. In the past five years, Myntra has made at least half a dozen acquisitions, most notably that of smaller rival Jabong, which it bought as part of a cut-price deal of $70 million.

The latest acquisition is an acqui-hire of sorts for Myntra, with the entire team of Witworks being absorbed into Myntra Innovation Labs. In 2016, Witworks launched its flagship device, Blink Watch, which runs on a voice-based platform. Myntra said the latest acquisition will allow the retailer to develop wearable products for its in-house brands.

Myntra has a number of in-house brands or private labels, such as Roadster, Dressberry, Anouk and actor Hrithik Roshan’s HRX brand. Myntra has switched its focus to using its resources to expanding sales faster from trying to turn profitable, while also launching a digital TV channel called Myntra TV on YouTube.

Infosys to acquire WongDoody

IT services firm Infosys Ltd will acquire WongDoody Holding Co., a US based digital creative and consumer insights agency, for a total consideration of up to $75 Million. The move would strengthen the company’s creative, branding and customer experience capabilities.

Previously, Infosys had announced the acquisition of Brilliant Basics, a London-based digital design and customer experience innovator that works with clients across Europe and Middle East. The addition of WongDoody strengthens Infosys’ ability to fulfill the needs of global clients for comprehensive digital transformation solutions required to meet customer demand for next-generation, enhanced customer experiences.

Founded in 1993, WongDoody is headquartered in Seattle and has an office in Los Angeles. It has clients across industries like telecommunications, consumer electronics, healthcare and consumer packaged goods. WongDoody’s expertise in driving innovative creative solutions is already yielding significant results in Infosys’ initial collaborations with clients, and this acquisition will further enhance the company’s capabilities in this space.

Uber acquires Jump

Uber has acquired bike sharing start-up JUMP for an undisclosed amount of money. JUMP was in talks with Uber as well as with investors regarding a potential fundraising round involving Sequoia Capital Mike Moritz. JUMP’s decision to sell to Uber came down to the ability to realize the bike-share company’s vision at a large scale and quickly.

JUMP is best known for operating dockless, pedal-assist bikes. JUMP’s bikes can be legally locked to bike parking racks or the “furniture zone” of sidewalks, which is where you see things like light poles, benches and utility poles. The bikes also come with integrated locks to secure the bikes. Uber’s acquisition of JUMP is not too surprising. In January, Uber partnered with JUMP to launch Uber Bike, which lets Uber riders’ book, JUMP bikes via the Uber app.

Meanwhile, Uber’s international competitors have made similar moves. India-based ride-hailing startup expanded into bicycles in December. Called Ola Pedal, the service is available on a handful of university campuses in India. Then there’s Southeast Asia’s Grab and China’s Didi, which both launched their respective bike-share services this year. Both Didi and Grab have also invested directly in bike-sharing startups Ofo and OBike, respectively.

E-bikes, of course, are not the only way to get around town these days. This year, we’ve seen a number of startups launch electric scooters. While San Francisco is trying to figure out how to regulate them, people are watching closely to see what comes next.

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.

Salesforce buys Mulesoft

Salesforce has signed an agreement to buy data integration vendor MuleSoft for $6.5 Billion as the backbone for a new integration cloud. With more than 1200 client companies in 60 countries, San Francisco based MuleSoft offers a platform for building application networks that connect apps, data and devices.

The acquisition will allow it to unlock data across legacy systems, cloud apps and devices to make smarter, faster decisions and create highly differentiated, connected customer experiences. The new Integration Cloud will offer an Integration-Platform-as-a-Service that is intended to let enterprises access any data anywhere.

The acquisition comes a year after MuleSoft went public and spent the year increasing sales while trying to manage its growing losses. In the company’s fourth quarter, it brought in $88.7 million in sales, which was a 60% bump from the previous year during the same time period. Mulesoft had an operating loss of $25.5 million in its fourth quarter, a nearly 100% jump from the $12.8 million operating loss it recorded in the same quarter of the previous year.

MuleSoft provides one of the world's leading platforms for building application networks that connect enterprise apps, data and devices, across any cloud and on-premise. More than 1,200 customers, including Coca-Cola, Barclays, Unilever and Mount Sinai, rely on MuleSoft to change and innovate faster, deliver differentiated customer experiences, and increase operational efficiency.

Zensar to acquire Cynosure

Zensar will acquire Cynosure for about $33 Million, a move that will help the Indian IT firm strengthen its play in the insurance vertical. Cynosure focuses on providing Guidewire platform implementation services to Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance carriers and clocked revenues of about $20 million in 2017.

The acquisition will be funded by a mix of internal accruals and external debt. As part of the deal, the entire share capital of Cynosure Interface Solutions (Cynosure India) will be acquired for an amount “not exceeding Rs13 crore”. Zensar Technologies Inc. -- a wholly owned subsidiary of Zensar -- will acquire the entire share capital of Cynosure Inc. for “approximately $31 million and deferred payments.

Cynosure has an offshore development centre in Bengaluru, India. “Cynosure is a Guidewire partner, and is well respected in the market place, making them experts in this area. They bring successful implementations, providing core system modernization with rich customer relationships that will serve as a significant value addition to our offerings.

Wibmo acquires start-up Mypoolin

US-based digital payment company Wibmo Inc. has bought Bengaluru based payment solution provider Mypoolin in a cash and stock deal. The deal was valued above $1 Million and all existing investors will get a combination of stock and cash.

Mypoolin will continue to operate as an Indian subsidiary of Wibmo, but eventually the Bengaluru-based start-up will be integrated with the Wibmo. Incorporated in 2015, Mypoolin provides payment solutions for retail merchants and allows individual users to send and receive money directly from banks. It also provided a feature to split and settle bills with friends using a web interface.

In 2015, Mypoolin raised $250,000 from Qualcomm Ventures, the venture capital arm of the semiconductor maker Qualcomm Inc., Accel Partners, Investopad and many other prominent angel investors. In total the company has raised less than $500,000. On the other hand, Wibmo already has a B2B presence in India and claims to work with private banks in India. The US company plans to use Mypoolin acquisition for expanding its consumer base.

Other acquisitions in the fintech space include The Mobile Wallet, which in January acquired payment platform Trupay for an undisclosed amount. The deal will help TMW expand its payment solutions. In the same month, media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL) acquired a stake in a Mumbai-based online lending firm FinReq.

Apple to acquire digital magazine service Texture

Apple had announced it signed an agreement to acquire Texture, the digital magazine subscription service by Next Issue Media LLC, which gives users unlimited access to their favorite titles for one monthly subscription fee.

Texture brings over 200 of the world’s best magazines to life, providing an easy way for users to read high-quality stories and entire issues of their favorite titles. With Texture, users enjoy the magazines they know and love, while discovering new content that fits their passions and interests.

Texture is owned by a consortium of big publishers, as well as private equity firm KKR, which put $50 million into the company in 2015. Texture was first assembled in 2009 and launched in 2012 as Next Issue Media. It was an attempt for big publishers to own their own version of Netflix or Hulu, and give them control of digital distribution instead of being cut out by Apple or Google. It eventually rebranded the service and de-emphasized the concept of magazines. Instead, it pushed the idea that your $10-a-month subscription gets you access to the world’s best articles, curated based on your particular interests.

Since its launch in 2010, Texture has become the leading multi-title subscription service giving users the ability to instantly access some of the most widely read magazines while on the go. In 2016, Texture was chosen by the App Store editorial team for the annual Best Of selections, which celebrate the most innovative apps and games for iOS users.

Amazon buys Smart Doorbell maker Ring

Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to buy video doorbell maker Ring, a deal which will allow the company to expand its home security and in-house delivery services.

Amazon is expected to keep Ring as an independent business; much like it has with its other acquisitions, like Zappos and Twitch. Amazon has been making moves to get into the home security space lately. It partnered with lock manufacturers Kwikset and Yale for its new in-home delivery service. Amazon Key, and recently acquired smart camera Blink.

Ring has raised $443.9 Million so far, and was last valued at $760 Million. This isn't the first time Amazon has partnered with Ring. The e-commerce company previously invested in Ring through its Alexa Fund, which exclusively invests in companies that help scale its Alexa voice technology.

The world’s largest online retailer believes that selling internet-connected gadgets from Kindle e-readers to its new Cloud Cam will spark more shopping on Amazon.com. Ring offers the company a popular consumer electronics brand that it might not have replicated internally. More importantly, Ring’s security devices could work well with Amazon Key, a smart lock and camera system that lets delivery personnel put packages inside a home to avoid theft or, in the case of fresh food, spoiling.

GroupM to acquire The Glitch

WPP owned media agency GroupM has agreed to buy a majority stake in the independent digital creative agency The Glitch, which will retain its branding. The acquisition will strengthen GroupM growth plans by offering its clients access to a wide portfolio of digital marketing services and content solutions.

The Glitch employs 240 people working out of offices in Delhi and Mumbai offering digital, planning and content services. It handles over 30 clients across brand categories with some of its key clients such as video streaming platform Netflix; fast moving consumer goods firm Hindustan Unilever, dating app Tinder and online hospitality firm Oyo Rooms.

GroupM operates WPP’s media agencies including Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence and Motivator in India. Its primary purpose is to maximize the performance of WPP’s media agencies by operating as leader and collaborator in trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, and proprietary tool development. It handles blue chip clients such as consumer goods firm ITC Ltd, telecom firm Vodafone, retail chain Shoppers Stop, auto giant Tata Motors, e-commerce platform Myntra, liquor company Pernod Ricard and Hero MotoCorp Ltd.

In January last year, GroupM acquired a majority stake in the media agency MediaCom India, a joint venture between GroupM India and Sam Balsara, the principal shareholder of the Madison Media group. MediaCom India continues to operate as an independent brand.