Careem and Shuttl acquihires Commut

Careem, the leading tech platform for the greater Middle East, has acquired Commut, the Hyderabad based mass transportation app for an undisclosed amount. The deal secures the talent and superior technology of Commut, which will be integrated wholly into Careem, and will accelerate Careem expansion into mass transportation through the addition of bus services across its 100 cities.

Founded by six IIT Hyderabad graduates Commut is a tech-driven bus shuttle service that has been operational in Hyderabad since November 2015. Since inception, they have served 750,000 trips within 100+ existing routes in Hyderabad. Backed by UK-Based Shell-Foundation and 50K Ventures, Commut served over 70,000 customers and onboarded 400 driver-partners. Commut local operations including its customers and driver-partners have now been taken over by Shuttl - a shuttle service provider in India.

As Careem continues to expand across its technology platform, the business will continue to acquire and invest in high impact, relevant and value-driven technology businesses and start-ups that can accelerate growth for Careem and can solve complex problems in the greater Middle East region.

Careem is a pioneer in the region’s ‘sharing economy’ – it’s mission is to simplify and improve the lives of people and build a lasting institution that inspires. Established in July 2012, Careem is the region’s only unicorn, operating in more than 100 cities across 14 countries.

Flipkart acquires Upstream Commerce

Flipkart has acquired an Israel based analytics start-up called Upstream Commerce, as India’s largest online retailer looks to help its massive seller base with services such as real-time pricing and product assortment information.

This is Flipkart’s second acquisition in as many months, after the Walmart-controlled e-commerce firm acquired Indian artificial intelligence start-up Liv.ai in August. The latest buyout will also enable Flipkart to have an outpost in Israel, which is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost start-up ecosystems.

Upstream, which counted Israel-based early-stage venture capital firm YL Ventures as its biggest investor prior to the buyout, currently builds cloud-based and automated competitive pricing products and solutions, among other things. With the Upstream acquisition, Flipkart will now have tech and talent presence across Asia, US and Israel, some of the key global hubs for innovation.

Earlier, Flipkart has held talks to buy a stake in Hotstar, Star India’s video streaming service, as part of a broader strategy from Flipkart to bet on video content and attract more Internet consumers and shoppers, without having to build an Amazon Prime Video-like streaming service from scratch.

Adobe to acquire Marketo

Adobe Systems announced that it is acquiring software maker Marketo for $4.75 Bn in a move widely seen as one of that will strengthen its position in the fiercely competitive cloud computing and marketing tech sector.

The maker of image-editing tool Photoshop said in a statement that the deal would bring together Marketo’s B2B-focused platform with the capabilities of Adobe Experience Cloud that include analytics, content, personalization and advertising.

It also comes just months after Adobe acquired e-commerce specialist Magento for $1.68bn, indicating that the company is highly focused on expanding its presence in the fast-growing cloud sector, which is currently dominated by Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce.

Adobe and Marketo tools will enable businesses to use a data-driven approach to focus sales and marketing activities on the most valuable prospects and customers, deliver cross-channel experiences and acquire more customers through targeted, account-based advertising.

Uber to acquire Dubai ride hailing firm Careem

Uber Technologies Inc. is in discussions to buy its Dubai based rival Careem Networks FZ as the ride hailing giant expands in the Middle East.

A deal with Uber could head off a potential IPO. Careem had held talks with investors earlier this year to raise $500 million, potentially valuing the firm at about $1.5 billion ahead of a possible listing, people familiar with the matter said in May.

The company, whose backers include Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. and German automaker Daimler AG, was valued at a little more than $1 billion in a 2016 funding round, making it one of the most valuable technology startups in the Middle East.

Careem has more than a million drivers and operates in more than 100 cities in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Pakistan, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Turkey, Palestine, Iraq and Sudan, according to its website. The app lets customers book rides on cars, bikes, golf carts, boats and rickshaws as well as schedule deliveries.

Elite SEM Acquires CPC Strategy

Elite SEM has acquired CPC Strategy, the San Diego based agency known for its expertise in retail, ecommerce and specifically the Amazon Channel, where it expects to drive more than half of its revenue in 2018. The combination with CPC Strategy adds critical scale to Elite’s rapidly growing Amazon practice, bolsters the depth of its expertise in search and social and also delivers a powerful technology asset in CPC strategy proprietary CAPx media and bid optimization platform.

CPC Strategy, with a team of over 125 employees, works with both brands and sellers and provides services including strategy and advisory, media planning and placement, creative and content services, and data and analytics. Clients include Pfizer, Reef, and Guthy Renker, The Honest Company, Hallmark, Nestle, Comvita, Riddell, Unilever's Seventh Generation, and Nutrisystem, as well as many Amazon-only sellers.

The combined entity will have approximately 500 performance media specialists, integrated media strategists, and data scientists. Both companies have a deep commitment to creating the best possible work environment, based on meritocracy, resulting in superior client service and retention. The acquisition follows Elite SEM's 'Experts Only' operating model, which maintains and develops specialization around each practice area while bringing a holistic approach to clients through Integrated Media Strategy and Marketing Science.

The acquisition includes CPC Strategy's proprietary Amazon media and bid optimization platform, CAPx, which provides a substantial competitive advantage through both efficiency and efficacy gains, resulting in superior service and performance gains for their clients. While Elite SEM will continue to work with industry partners and third-party technology, this proprietary solution enables strategy and service teams to address market gaps and provide the best platform recommendation for clients.

Amazon Pay to acquire Tapzo

Amazon India Payment arm, Amazon Pay, has acquired Bengaluru based and Sequoia backed startup Tapzo, as the e-commerce giant attempts to aggressively ramp up its payments business and get a bigger slice of India’s booming digital payments economy, currently dominated by the likes of Paytm.

Prior to its acquisition, Tapzo counted the likes of Sequoia Capital and American Express Co. among its investors, and had raised over $20 million since it started out in 2009. In its current avatar, Tapzo allows users to access over 35 apps, including the likes of Flipkart, Amazon, Uber and Ola, among others.

Founded in 2009 as a complaint redressal forum called Akosha, the service was rebranded and launched as Helpchat. Helpchat started out as a personal assistant platform with a chatting feature, but even that pivot proved unsuccessful for Singla and the rest of his team. Eventually, Helpchat was pivoted and re-launched as an all-in-one platform, Tapzo, in November 2016.

Amazon separately launched a new bill payments service, which will enable prepaid and postpaid bill payments through its Amazon Pay wallet. As part of the new service, Amazon has forged tie-ups with hundreds of billers for electricity, mobile and broadband bill payments, among others.

Cognizant to acquire SaaSfocus

Cognizant will acquire SaaSfocus, a provider of Salesforce consulting services, for an undisclosed amount as the IT major looks to further strengthen its business in the Indian and Australian markets.

SaaSfocus which is privately held offers digital transformation services leveraging the Salesforce platform. It has over 350 Salesforce consultants in Australia and India. The acquisition will help expand Cognizant’s end-to-end digital transformation services and Salesforce cloud capabilities in the region, including India and Australia. Cognizant already offers a wide range of Salesforce solutions.

Combining Cognizant global capabilities, deep domain expertise and digital solutions with SaaSfocus specialized Salesforce consulting competencies will help SaaSfocus accelerate clients digital transformation journeys. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to certain closing conditions.

Flipkart buys AI startup Liv.ai

India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart has acquired artificial intelligence (AI) startup Liv.ai, which has built a platform that translates speech to text in 10 Indian languages. The acquisition comes at a time when large online retail firms are doubling down and investing heavily on getting access to the next 100 million Internet users in tier-2 and tier-3 cities and towns across India.

After the acquisition is completed, Liv.ai will be integrated into Flipkart Center of Excellence for Voice Solutions, as it looks to leverage the startup’s technology and build its capabilities around so-called conversational shopping. For Flipkart, this buyout is crucial as it potentially helps the online retailer overcome the language barrier problem, an issue faced by most leading consumer internet companies.

Flipkart’s arch-rival Amazon.com Inc. has also bet on voice and speech-recognition technology globally and come out with new offerings in the form of AI-powered virtual assistant Alexa. Liv.ai is one of a handful of startups to build technology that converts speech to text in 10 Indian languages that include Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Prior to being sold to Flipkart, the startup had raised funding from investors such as Astarc Ventures.

Pepsi to buy SodaStream

PepsiCo Inc. agreed to buy SodaStream International Ltd for $3.2 Billion to gain the Israeli company’s at home soft-drink making technology. PepsiCo will pay $144 a share in cash. 

The move is widely seen as an effort by Pepsi to prop up its catalog of “healthy” food and drink options as it continues to wage battle against longtime rival Coca-Cola. Both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have invested heavily in both healthier and eco-friendly alternatives over the past decade.

The purchase will probably be the last big move by PepsiCo chief executive officer Indra Nooyi, who said this month she’s stepping down as head of the beverage company after 12 years in the job. The purchase of SodaStream comes as the company’s North American beverage unit is stagnating amid a general decline in soda consumption.

SodaStream has been the focus of controversy in the Middle East. Protesters claimed victory when the company closed a factory in the West Bank in 2014, which the opponents said was part of Israel’s illegal occupation of the territory. SodaStream has argued that boycotts and protests have hurt Palestinians more than helped them.

Girnar Software acquires PowerDrift

Jaipur based Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd, which owns auto portals CarDekho.com, BikeDekho.com and Gaadi.com has acquired automotive content YouTube channel PowerDrift for an undisclosed amount.

Owned and operated by PowerDrift Studios Private Limited, the YouTube channel uploads videos reviews of cars and motorcycles. The channel has about a million subscribers today. PowerDrift claims to have generated 240 million lifetime views on its channel, with an average of 200,000 views per video.

Girnar Software, founded in 2007 also owns TyreDekho.com and BuyingIQ.com (online shopping adviser). In 2014, Girnar had acquired Naspers Group-owned Gaadi.com. It also bought Zigwheels.com from Times Internet in September 2015. The same year, it invested $1 million in edu-tech startup CollegeDekho.

Besides Gaadi.com and Zigwheels.com, Girnar Software acquired several other companies. These include Drishya360s (virtual reality), Volob Technologies (AR-VR focused visual communications), Connecto (SaaS start-up), Help on Wheels (roadside assistance), Valueserve Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd (consulting firm), and Advanced Structures India (car-testing and benchmarking firm).

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.

Foodpanda in talks to buy Holachef

Foodpanda, the online food ordering and delivery marketplace owned by Ola, is in advanced talks to buy Mumbai based food tech startup Holachef Hospitality Pvt. Ltd, which shuttered operations nearly three months ago. Foodpanda will acquire Holachef Staff, brand name and kitchen equipment.

A potential acquisition would be the second within a year for Ola, India’s largest taxi aggregator. Last December, the company, run by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, bought Foodpanda from its German parent. A potential deal signals Ola’s aggressive expansion to compete in the online food ordering and delivery segment alongside players like Swiggy (Bundl Technologies Pvt. Ltd), Zomato (Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd) and the recent entrant UberEats India.

Founded in 2014, Holachef, which delivers home-cooked food to customers, closed operations in April. The startup’s Twitter handle is flooded with customer queries about its sudden absence from delivery platforms. Holachef, which was operational in Mumbai and Pune, had raised ₹ 2 crore from diamond merchant Ashok Kumar in February this year. The company backed by Ratan Tata, Kalaari Capital and venture capital fund India Quotient has raised $9.6 million cumulatively till date.

Ola was also exploring creating an independent food technology company on the lines of Flipkart’s model and was in talks to buy food brand FreshMenu (Foodvista India Pvt. Ltd) along with another private label. Holachef joins the likes of Gurugram-based Twigly that three weeks back shut operations after being in business for three years. Among other food-tech businesses, Spoonjoy (acquired by grocery delivery firm Grofers), TinyOwl, Yumist and Dazo had to shut shop as raising funds amid immense competition became increasingly difficult.

Cisco to buy cyber security firm Duo

Cisco systems Inc. will buy Duo Security, a venture capital backed cyber security company for $2.5 Billion in cash, as it seeks to expand its offerings in cloud computing.

The deal is the biggest acquisition for Cisco since its $3.7 billion purchase of business performance monitoring software company AppDynamics last year, and it’s largest in the cyber security sector since its $2.7 billion takeover of Sourcefire in 2013.

Duo’s platform allows users to verify their identity with a two-step authentication and its investors include Index Ventures, Workday, Redpoint Ventures and True Ventures. Cisco, the world’s largest networking gear maker, has been making efforts to transform itself into a software-focused company.

With its traditional business of making switches and routers struggling, Cisco has been focusing on high-growth areas such as security, the Internet of Things and cloud computing.

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.

French IT services group Atos to buy Syntel

French IT services group Atos has agreed to buy US Information Technology group Syntel in a move to significantly expand its presence in North America. This transaction is a major step in the strategy of Atos to reach a global scale.

Atos, which provides IT services to sectors ranging from aerospace to retail, said the deal to buy Syntel will strengthen its activities in banking, finance, and insurance and allow it to provide complete IT solutions to its U.S. customers.

The deal will significantly enhance the business & platform solutions division's growth and profitability profile through an extended digital services offering, cutting-edge India-based delivery platforms, as well as revenue and cost synergies.

The acquisition of Syntel, a 38-year-old company with 23,000 employees, comes after last year's unsuccessful attempt by Atos to buy Gemalto. Syntel provides technology and IT services utilizing a network of software development centres in India.

SmartQ acquires Goodbox’s cafeteria business

Bengaluru based SmartQ, which provides digital solutions for food courts and cafeterias, has acquired Nexus Venture partners backed Goodbox’s cafeteria business for an undisclosed amount.

SmartQ is operated by YourNest Angel Fund-backed Bottle Lab Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Goodbox provides online shopping platforms to each Bengaluru neighborhood store registered with its app. It also provides food-ordering services in the city. In 2015, Goodbox had raised $2.5 million (Rs 16.5 crore) from Nexus Venture Partners.

The acquisition of cafeteria business comes two months after Goodbox, an app that offered mini apps to a wide range of small and medium-sized businesses within its own app, reportedly turned its focus to neighborhood stores for hyperlocal delivery even as it exited its “non-core businesses.

Goodbox allows businesses to create a storefront on its app, similar to a real-world store. In other words, businesses can create an app for themselves on Goodbox’s platform, where customers can directly interact with the store and conduct transactions. Users also get loyalty and reward points for using the platform.

Oyo acquires AblePlus

Hospitality firm Oyo has acquired AblePlus, the Mumbai based Internet of Things (IoT) startup. Oyo will now be introducing IoT into the basic precincts of their Hotel Management System.

The company also introduced industry-first initiative of Digital Arrival & Departure Register, which has been adopted by the state governments of Haryana and Rajasthan. In addition, Oyo also makes use of Machine Learning (ML) based algorithms to personalize the user journey. Customers will now be able to look at self-check-ins, which will be supported by digital arrival and departure register, self KYP with Aadhaar, and IoT server-managed smart locks.

With the rollout of the added technology enabled operations, Oyo team believes they will be able to track assets across properties better, and also work in reduction of wastage of electricity and minimizing the carbon footprint. This will take OYO a step closer to consolidating its vision of creating beautiful living spaces across India.

The team is also looking at introducing voice-based assistance in rooms, enabling automation of controlling appliances and lights among other services. Going forward, Oyo also plans to implement a comprehensive guest entertainment programme that will include fitness, gaming and augmented experiences. The company is also looking at several other integrated technology solutions including enhancing its Oyo Asset Management offering, so that it is easy to partner with them.

Amazon acquires online pharmacy PillPack

Amazon is buying online Pharmacy PillPack – a move that could disrupt the drug store business. PillPack has pharmacy licenses in all 50 states. The company delivers medications to customers in pre-sorted doses designed to make it easier for people to take multiple medications a day.

Although brick-and-mortar stores might feel the effects of Amazon's competition, the biggest battles will likely be fought by the mail-order pharmacies, which generally serve patients with chronic conditions such as heart disease that may require drugs to control blood pressure, cholesterol and other problems.

Some of the largest mail order pharmacies are controlled by pharmacy benefit managers such as Express Scripts (ESRX.O) and CVS, which offer financial and other incentives to patients to fill their prescriptions with them. PillPack holds pharmacy licenses in all 50 states and is authorized to deliver in 49 states and is an in-network pharmacy for major Medicare Part D plans.

For consumers, it could be good news if the deal nudges the pharmacy sector into a heated competition for customers, potentially driving down drug prices. Prescription drug spending tops $450 billion annually. Amazon's acquisition of PillPack marks another development in the company's rivalry with Walmart, which had been rumored to be weighing an acquisition of PillPack.

Times Internet buys video app MX Player

Times Internet Ltd, the digital business arm of media conglomerate Times Group, is planning to foray into video streaming with the acquisition of South Korea based video platform MX player for Rs 1,000 crore.

The deal marks the biggest acquisition till date by Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL), Times Internet’s parent firm, as a group and reflects its bullish outlook on the digital space. BCCL’s earlier big-ticket overseas acquisition – radio network Virgin Radio in 2008.

The platform will house premium and exclusive content from leading content producers and publishers around the world, which means it, will compete with the likes of Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar and Netflix. MX Player claims that its app, which houses a basic video player, has been installed on 500 million devices worldwide. The video player will continue to support the offline video playback features that are currently available.

MX Player is investing in premium, original, digital-first content, with an emphasis on Hindi and regional production. In its first year, the platform will launch with more than 20 original shows, and over 50,000 hours of premium content across all languages.

Symphony to buy Climate Technologies

Symphony Ltd, one of the country’s leading air cooler manufacturers announced to acquire Australia’s Climate Technologies Pvt Ltd. The Ahmedabad-based company has signed an agreement to buy 95% equity stake in Climate Technologies, Australia’s leading manufacturer of cooling and heating appliances.

Climate Technologies, headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia, manufactures and sells evaporative air coolers, ducted gas heaters and other cooling products in Australia and the US. With iconic brands such as Bonaire and Celair, Climate Technologies is one of Australia’s most recognized manufacturers and suppliers of cooling and heating appliances.

It also has a presence in the US markets and has a manufacturing facility in Salisbury, South Australia, with an assembly operation in Las Vegas, Nevada. The acquisition would help Symphony expand its international footprint and would provide it an opportunity of lowering the business risk because of different weather conditions prevailing in India and Australia.

This is an exciting opportunity for Symphony as Climate Technologies is a very strong strategic fit. This acquisition will provide Symphony access to new geographies such as Australia and a strong position in the US, which is the largest air cooler market in the world.