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upGrad, India’s leading Online Higher Education Company, has acquired CohortPlus, India’s largest and the most active community on Product Management and one of India’s largest communities on Data Science.

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India has seen more than 400% rise in demand for data science professionals across varied industry sectors at a time when the supply of such talent witnesses a slow growth, said Talent Supply Index [TSI] by Belong. Built with the vision of becoming a career partner for people looking to transition into new age careers and having grown organically to 31K+ community members, CohortPlus brings with itself rich consumer insights, which will enable upGrad to enhance its offerings for the learners.

Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar, Co-founders, upGrad in a joint statement, said

Employees in India are looking forward to picking up new age skills to make themselves more relevant in the current workforce. upGrad’s highly engaging online learning solution along with CohortPlus’s deep penetration in the community of Data Scientists and Product Managers, will allow us to reach a much larger and relevant audience.

CohortPlus is an online community founded in 2015 by Srinivasan Narayan, which brings together like-minded career aspirants in a single community platform, where they can network with each other, ask and clarify doubts and be abreast of the latest events in the field of data science and product management. Its members comprise of 31100+ professionals from around the world, from companies like Google, Adobe, Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Uber, Amazon, Practo, Zomato etc. It is one of India’s largest and most active communities in Data Science and Product Management.

Members can post their questions and get various perspectives from industry professionals and can also get assistance for job interviews. The 3 member team of CohortPlus is based out of Bangalore. Today this community is one of the largest and the fastest growing community in this domain and continues to grow organically. CohortPlus had raised angel investment from Manish Maheshwari [Twitter India MD], Alok Mittal [Indifi Founder] and Sujatha Kumar in 2015.

Srinivasan Narayan, Founder & CEO, CohortPlus, said

With upGrad’s support, CohortPlus intends to build a proprietary go-to platform for anyone looking to take a step up in their careers. We are looking forward to widen the joint vision of building careers of tomorrow and becoming transformational partners for those looking to up-skill and move up in their careers.

About upGrad

upGrad was founded in early 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli and Ravijot Chugh, with an aim of empowering individuals to reach their full professional potential by providing them with formal educational programs.

The company provides programs in the areas of Data Science, Technology and Management to college students and working professionals. These programs are created by partnering with a number of top academic institutions, including BITS Pilani, IIIT-Bangalore, Cambridge Judge Business School of Executive Education and MICA. The company also has collaborations with some of industry’s best such as Google, Flipkart, Gramener to name a few in order to create a cohesive and practical learning experience.

upGrad has powered over 3 lakh careers since its inception. The company has been awarded the ‘Best Tech for Education’ by IAMAI in 2019. The company received the ‘Best Education Brands’ award by Economic Times and has made it to LinkedIn’s ‘Top 25 Startups’ in 2018. For more information, please visit upGrad.

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Ebix, Inc., a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries, announced that one of its India-based EbixCash subsidiaries has acquired a 67 percent stake in Routier, a Delhi-based B2B Marketplace for Trucking Logistics. Routier is pioneering a cloud based technology to change the way people move and receive inland goods in India.

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Founded by First generation entrepreneurs and operating team senior Executives Ankur Dahiya and Adwait Vikram Singh from the Indian Institute of Management [IIM] and Harvard Law School, respectively, Routier seeks to revolutionize trucking logistics in the same way taxi logistics have been transformed by Uber, Ola and others. Routier aims to drive efficiency for all marketplace stakeholders, using an innovative blend of data analytics, artificial intelligence and end-to-end streamlined functionality available over the cloud.

With clients like Coca Cola, Asian Paints, and Samsung; Routier’s marketplace is already proving its ability to add efficiency to freight movement. The EbixCash investment was driven by Routier’s desire for a strategic investor who could provide added technology expertise, financial strength and brand recognition to accelerate its penetration of major trucking logistics. Routier is the first start-up where Ebix has made a strategic investment.

With a market opportunity expected to reach $300 billion by 2020, Routier looks to drive productivity and transparency through a transportation sector long considered one of the most inefficient. Routier’s online cloud based logistics marketplace connects companies that require their goods to be delivered [Shippers], typically with small trucking companies who account for 75% of the freight transportation business [Carriers]; allowing the Carriers the ability to win a Shipper’s business by bidding from any smartphone, hand-held device or computer. From bidding through final delivery, the Routier platform delivers a seamless efficient, end-to-end online B2B logistics marketplace, that:

  • Connects Shippers and Carriers across the nation on a single platform.
  • Empowers even a single truck owner to work with India’s largest shippers.
  • Assures Carriers of a continued supply of business through Routier’s contracts with large Shippers seeking delivery of goods across the country from each of their factories every day.
  • Assures Shippers of Carrier background checks, insurance, GPS tracking and real-time reporting from pickup through delivery

All stakeholders win when a supply chain is efficient, so Routier Marketplace is built from the ground up to help Shippers reduce costs, save time, and make informed decisions that increase profitability. At the same time, Carriers benefit from instantaneous nationwide access to recurring business through a blend of technology, transparency, ease of use and other features that directly benefit their bottom line.

Ebix Chairman, President and CEO Robin Raina said

Exchanges and marketplaces are meant to provide a network effect that drives efficiency for all concerned and are best targeted at industries that are highly inefficient and lack technology savvy. India’s trucking industry is a perfect example of such an opportunity to deliver tremendous value and efficiency, and thus we are quite excited to be partnering with Routier in its mission to redefine the trucking logistics industry.

Routier recently secured multi-million dollar commitments from a few large multinational corporations, and thus needed the backing of Ebix in terms of technology expertise, manpower and working capital to implement and scale these and other opportunities. We are excited to invest in this pioneering effort at an opportune time, and look forward to building what could be a large marketplace for the trucking industry.

Routier Founder Ankur Dahiya said

Technology can serve as key disruptive force in the logistics sector. Routier aims to use Data Science as a key enabler to organize the fragmented market. By match-making supply and demand, even if we can use 30% of unutilized capacity, we can cause a major positive impact in the Industry in terms of productivity and profitability both.

Routier Co-Founder Adwait Vikram Singh said

Routier has the potential to rationalize the Logistics sector not only in India but also for the global markets. Currently, Routier operates only in inland logistics but eventually aims to become a key player in streamlining cross border freight movement on a single enterprise marketplace platform. Routier has the vision to become an End-to-End supply chain network, that can handle freight movement to last mile delivery, for transportation across country borders.

About Ebix and EbixCash

With 50+ offices across 5 continents, Ebix, Inc., endeavors to provide On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries. In the Insurance sector, the Company’s main focus is to develop and deploy a wide variety of insurance and reinsurance exchanges on an on-demand basis, while also, providing Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) enterprise solutions in the area of CRM, front-end & back-end systems, outsourced administrative and risk compliance, across the world. For further details, please visit EbixCash

Through its various SaaS-based software platforms, Ebix employs thousands of domain-specific technology professionals to provide products, support and consultancy to thousands of customers on six continents.

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Atos, a global leader in digital transformation has completed the acquisition of Syntel Inc., a leading global provider of integrated information technology and knowledge process services headquartered in Michigan, with $924 million revenue in 2017 of which 89% is in North America, 25% operating margin, and 40% of its activities in digital, automation, and robotization. Syntel offers its customers high value-added digital services in several specific verticals such as Banking and Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail and Insurance.

Commenting on the finalization of the deal, Thierry Breton, Atos Chairman and CEO said

Today marks a new major step in the development of the Group, as we welcome more than 23,000 Syntel employees to Atos. With this transaction, we take a new dimension to accelerate the digital transformation of our customers worldwide, while strongly reinforcing our Business & Platform Solutions activities with new clients in North America and a delivery platform from India with a consistent and competitive size to support our customers in their digitalization journeys.

We worked extensively to be ready from day one post-closing and to ensure continued delivery of services to our clients while at the same time leveraging the combined strengths of the two Groups for profitable growth. In that regards, Syntel will operate as a dedicated unit named Atos Syntel within our Business & Platform Solutions Division.

Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, announced on July 22, 2018 and approved by Syntel’s shareholders on October 1, 2018, Syntel today becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Atos. The purchase price of $ 3.4 billion and the repayment of Syntel’s outstanding debt for $ 0.3 billion were financed through debt fully underwritten by BNP Paribas and J.P. Morgan Securities PLC, whose syndication closed largely oversubscribed with a group of 25 banks. As a result of the acquisition, Syntel shares will cease trading, and will be delisted from the NASDAQ.

The Group expects to generate compelling and significant synergies both at revenue and cost levels. Strong portfolio and complementary customer bases between the two companies will generate multiple cross-selling opportunities, leading to expected revenue synergies of $ 250 million by the end of 2021, with 20% operating margin, half of them planned by the end of 2020. Atos will also benefit in particular from tangible operational improvement by taking advantage of Syntel’s current offshore, automation, and robotization capabilities. Cost synergies are planned to be generated in particular by applying Syntel’s best practices on the existing Atos Business & Platform Solutions operating model. The total cost benefits are estimated at $ 120 million per year on a run rate basis by the end of 2021 with a linear phasing.

The transaction is expected to be EPS accretive immediately with double digit accretion as early as 2019 excluding the impact of PPA and transaction and implementation costs. Syntel will be consolidated into the Group financial statements as of November 1, 2018.

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Liferay Inc., which makes software that helps companies create digital experiences on web, mobile and connected devices, has acquired controlling interest in Triblio and committed to an ongoing strategic investment in growing Triblio’s Account-Based Marketing [ABM] business. The investment allows Liferay to explore opportunities for the DXP audience to further enhance and personalize the customer journey with account-specific content and messaging. In turn, Triblio will continue to focus on delivering long-term customer value and product innovation.

Bryan Cheung, CEO – Liferay said

Triblio represents the next generation of B2B marketing cloud and we are fully committed to investing in the platform and growing Triblio’s ABM business. Existing Liferay DXP customers will reap the benefits of this investment over time as we continue to help organizations build long-term relationships and deliver value to customers across their life-cycle.

Triblio will continue to operate as an independent entity led by CEO Andre Yee. Andre co-founded Triblio after serving as Senior Vice President of Product Development at marketing automation software provider Eloqua. Triblio is a leading ABM cloud provider with over 100 customers and triple digit annual year over year growth. The platform offers account-based advertising, web personalization, sales orchestration, account scoring and analytics, all powered by its unique AI-based purchase intent engine.

Andre Yee, CEO of Triblio, said

We are excited to receive Liferay’s investment. With their strategic commitment, we intend to extend our market reach and invest significantly in our customer success and product development teams.

Together, Liferay and Triblio are dedicated to bringing improved customer engagement and content targeting capabilities to enterprises. In addition, the two companies share a deep commitment to customer success and in giving back to the wider community.

About Liferay

Liferay makes software that helps companies create digital experiences on web, mobile and connected devices. Our platform is open source, which makes it more reliable, innovative and secure. Hundreds of organizations in financial services, healthcare, government, insurance, retail, manufacturing and multiple other industries use Liferay.

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Singapore based Health Tech startup, Symple Wellness Platform [SWP] has acquired Pune-based AllizHealth, a wellness & health analytics platform for an undisclosed sum. AIH will be rebranded to ‘Vivant’, SWP’s operating brand.

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The acquisition dramatically speeds up Vivant’s expansion into the India market and brings with it a robust technology architecture, a strong operating team of almost 40 people across various functions, and close to 750,000 end customers. Three AIH Co-Founders will continue with Vivant – Chinmoy Mishra as Chief Business Development Officer, Dr. Rasmi Mishra as Chief Product Innovation Officer & Gaurav Vij as Chief Technology Officer.

The combined platform will provide a comprehensive digital health offering with over 6,500 partners with strengths across the care spectrum to empower individuals to engage with their health to get healthy, stay healthy or manage disease. The platform will also deliver solutions emphasizing maternal health, menstrual health, diabetes, orthopaedics, cardiovascular, child nutrition and elder care. Customers will also have access to Vivant’s Advisory Board, which includes internationally and nationally recognized experts across key fields that impact individual and community well-being.

Anupa Naik, CEO – Vivant, said

This acquisition brings with it an outstanding team and technology capabilities that will strengthen our ability to help customers engage with their health meaningfully and productively. This is a significant investment for us and reaffirms our commitment to the Indian market. We warmly welcome the AIH team to Vivant and look forward to working together.

Chinmoy Mishra, Co-Founder of AIH, said

We are delighted to join forces with the Vivant team and look forward to bringing our services to customers at scale. Vivant’s strong domain expertise and leadership team was a natural fit for AIH and we look to our shared future with great optimism.

About Symple Wellness Platform Private Limited

Symple Wellness Platform Private Limited is a Health Tech company based in Singapore. Through its operating brand ‘Vivant’, SWP delivers a digital healthcare platform that helps customers engage with their health across the care continuum, helping them get healthy, stay healthy or manage disease. The wide range of services include digital health records, health risk assessments, doctor consults, health check-ups, health coaches and condition management programs. For more information about Vivant, please visit Vivant

About AllizHealth

AllizHealth founded in 2013 by Chinmoy Mishra, Dr. Rasmi Mishra, Gaurav Vij and Dhairya Gupta, is a Pune based Health Tech venture. As a consumer focused ‘wellness & health analytics platform’ for early identification, tracking and management of health risks and conditions the platform enables users to store/access/share health information efficiently, track various health risks and parameters, store digitized health documents and connect with care givers. At the time of acquisition, the AllizHealth team of 40 people serves several clients from corporates & insurers to healthcare companies & retail customers with an overall end customer base of 750,000 lives.

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Last year in March, Truecaller had announced its foray into the digital payments segment, incorporating UPI-based transfers in its app. Truecaller has announced a strategic investment into the payment space in India by acquiring Chillr, India’s first multi-bank payments app launched in 2014.

Image Source – Chillr

The founders of Chillr, Sony Joy, Anoop Sankar, Mohamed Galib and Lishoy Bhaskaran and the rest of the organization will be joining Truecaller, and Sony Joy will be the Vice President of Truecaller Pay. Chillr’s team of engineers and designers have a profound understanding of mobile payments, and a deep passion for products that they will now bring to Truecaller. The company plans to leverage its full reach of over 150 million users in India as well as its 300+ existing partnerships in India to enable Truecaller Pay as a platform.

Nami Zarringhalam, CSO – Truecaller

Nami Zarringhalam, Truecaller Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer, said

Since launching Truecaller Pay in 2017, we have seen an increasing number of use cases to make the lives of our users in India easier. By acquiring Chillr, we are reaffirming our commitment to mobile payments and strengthening our plans to increase its adoption amongst our user base. We will, together, have a far bigger impact in this space through the foundation of the team’s expertise and a strong user base that trust our platform and use it on a daily basis.

Sony Joy, Co-founder & CEO – Chillr

Sony Joy, Co-founder, Chillr, said

After spending time with the founders and the Truecaller team, we have realized that we share a lot of synergies; values; culture; and a sharp focus on user experience. Our roadmap on payments and financial services which when combined with the scale and resources of Truecaller, can create amazing experiences and solve genuine problems at an accelerated pace.

About Truecaller

People use Truecaller to stay ahead. It helps them know who’s getting in touch, filter out unwanted calls and SMS, and focus on what really matters. The company provides a suite of unique services such as a dialer that offers caller ID, spam detection, messaging and more. Truecaller’s mission is to build trust everywhere by making communication safe and efficient. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, the company was founded in 2009 by Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam. Investors include Sequoia Capital, Atomico and Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers.

With the launch of Truecaller Pay 2.0, the company has brought banking and payments features to the forefront of its app, and in the coming months Truecaller is planning on rolling out credit and other financial services to users in Indiain a mobile-first way.

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Swiggy, India’s largest food ordering and delivery platform announced that it has acqui-hired Bangalore-based gourmet Asian food startup 48East, founded by food industry veterans Joseph Cherian and Nabhojit Ghosh.

Both will join Swiggy’s New Supply business line. As COO of the New Supply business line, Cherian’s expertise in the food infrastructure space will further strengthen Swiggy’s focus on solving for gaps in consumer supply through various strategic initiatives. This includes the recently launched Swiggy Access, where the company brings a variety of food to consumers by enabling plug-and-play expansion for restaurant partners in different areas.

While the food landscape in the country rapidly expands, numerous areas and scenarios or use cases remain under-served. Over the years, Swiggy has been exploring innovative ways to address this by providing solutions for the availability, quality and convenience of food. With Cherian and Ghosh, the company will be able to take this a notch higher as it looks to serve consumers more efficiently and grow the market.

Talking about the acqui-hire, Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy said

With their deep understanding of the food space and an impressive track record of delivering a great consumer experience, the 48East team will equip Swiggy with additional capabilities. We are excited to work with them towards our vision of changing the way India eats.

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MSD Telematics Private Limited, a Gurugram based telematics solutions firm, announced the acquisition of Heuristics Info Systems in an all cash deal. Sparrow Business Solutions LLP, a boutique corporate finance firm acted as the exclusive advisors to MSD and Heuristics on the transaction and TRA Law acted as the legal advisor on the deal.

Image Source – LinkedIn

Ashmeet Singh, founder of MSD Telematics commented

This investment will fuel our ability to deliver greater value to customers by enabling us to offer complete bouquet of services. We are excited to have the Heuristics team join us in this exciting journey. Together we look forward to grow multi-fold in the next few years. Heuristics gives us the ability to now service international clientele with innovative and robust software solutions.

With the tremendous growth in Transport Tech and Logistics Tech space, telematics as an industry will see fabulous growth in the years to come.

Siddharth, investor at MSD Telematics said

It is time we function as business intelligence partners for the customers, helping them drive operational efficiency while reducing costs and risk. Telematics companies need to create unique positioning products that help customers grow their business.  We need to educate customers about numerous applications of telematics and collaborate towards increasing penetration in the domain for a sustainable growth and benefit of all the stakeholders.

Heuristics, founded in 2008 by Amit Dubey and Pradeep Rai offers Vehicle Tracking System and Mobile Application software while providing unique cost effective quality solutions to various industry segments. Following the acquisition Amit Dubey, Founder Partner Heuristics Info Systems, would be joining MSD Telematics as a board advisor.

Commenting on the deal, Rohit Bhargava, partner at Sparrow Business Solutions LLP said

This is probably the start of consolidation in the industry. Few large players will emerge in the next few years to take leadership positions in the USD 120 Million telematics market in India.

About MSD Telematics

MSD was founded by two friends Ashmeet Singh and Siddharth in 2011. MSD focuses on telematics integration, GPS based tracking/remote asset management, mobility solution and all M2M solution based products. Company caters to various industrial verticals like logistics, transportation, schools, public distribution system etc. Telematics solution is offered under the brand name traQmatiX.

MSD serves corporate and government corporations by offering customized solutions on OPEX basis and on a turn-key basis. MSD counts HPCL, State Election Commissions, State Food Corporations and Excise Departments as some of its clients.

About Sparrow Business Solutions LLP

Gurugram, Delhi NCR, India based Sparrow Advisory was set up in late 2014. Sparrow Advisory serves clients in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka across sectors including Auto Components, Water Treatment, Renewables, Consumer Goods, Vacation Rentals, Fitness Industry and Data Analytics.