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GO-JEK, Indonesia’s largest start-up has acquired Pianta, a Bengaluru-based home healthcare services start-up for an undisclosed amount. This is the third Indian acquisition by the Indonesian unicorn following its previous buys in 2015:Bangalore-based C42 Engineering and Delhi-based CodeIgnition. The acquisition will help fast track the development of GO-JEK’s logistics and transportation platforms to support its fast-growing Indonesia operations.

As part of the acquisition, the newly acquired firm will be wholly integrated into GO-JEK’s India arm, GO-JEK Engineering India. Based in Bangalore, GO-JEK Engineering India focuses on product innovation, mining data and crafting consumer experiences for its parent company GO-JEK. The company is looking to double its existing India headcount of 70 employees in the coming months.

Nadiem Makarim, Founder and CEO of GO-JEK Indonesia said

At GO-JEK, we constantly seek to continue to push the boundaries of innovation. Pianta’s role will be very important to strengthen our technology excellence to bring the best services for customers. We believe this acquisition will advance our mission to become the largest on-demand application of choice for all Indonesians.

Run by SLX Logistics Pvt. Ltd., Pianta is a marketplace for home healthcare services that helps discover and book appointments with healthcare providers who provide home visits for physiotherapy, nursing and lab sample collection. The start-up had raised an undisclosed seed funding in May 2016 from Freecharge founders Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon.

Founded in 2015 by former Ola and Flipkart executives Swaminathan Seetharaman, Ganesh Subramanian and Nitin Agarwal, Pianta has over 250 home service providers listed on its platform. Seetharaman has worked with Ola as vice president of engineering while Subramanian was earlier principal architect at Ola. Agarwal was earlier a director of engineering at Ola.

The acquisition will see the three co-founders strengthen the core leadership team at GO-JEK Engineering India, led by Sidu Ponnappa, whose tech firm C42 Engineering was bought in 2015 by GO-JEK, as its Managing Director.

Swaminathan Seetharaman, CEO & Co-founder, Pianta said

GO-JEK provides us with a great opportunity to leverage the capabilities that we at Pianta have built in the domain of on-demand delivery and logistics. It presents us with a large canvas to create a much larger impact and to create it faster

Funded initially by the likes of Sequoia Capital and Yuri Milner’s DST Global, GO-JEK is currently the fastest growing start-up in South Asia and the largest in Indonesia in terms of valuation, funding raised and number of transactions. Having started as a bike-taxi business, the start-up has diversified into food delivery, one-hour courier delivery, grocery delivery and even has aggregated trucks on its platform. It has partnered with 200,000 motorcycle drivers and 5,000 trucks across Indonesia, all of whom, collectively cover an average distance of 4.5 million kilometres daily.

Last month, GO-JEK had secured more than $550 million in a new round of funding led by KKR and Warburg Pincus LLC, the largest ever for an Indonesian technology start-up. The start-up competes against the likes of Uber and Grab, two private car-hailing start-ups in Indonesia’s burgeoning ride-hailing industry.

With over 20 million app downloads, GO-JEK’s platform powers the Indonesian equivalents of Ola, Paytm, Swiggy, Grofers, Zomato, Dunzo and UrbanClap at a comparable scale. Its GO-FOOD business alone does more daily orders than all Indian food tech start-ups combined.

The company is actively looking for talent for key operations like data science, mobile, security and DevOps as it looks to shore up its technology operations in Bangalore and Singapore.

About GO-JEK Engineering India

GO-JEK Engineering India is the Bangalore-based product development centre of GO-JEK., Backed by Sequoia Capital India and DST Global, GO-JEK is one of the most watched start-ups in Southeast Asia having acquired two Indian technology companies – C42 Engineering and CodeIgnition in 2015. The GO-JEK Engineering India team comprises of developers, data scientists, designers and product managers who work on product innovation, mining data and crafting consumer experiences. The company takes pride in its world-class product engineering team who have a deep-rooted passion for working with the engineering community in India on topics such as innovation, education and Open Source. For more details about GO-JEK, please visit www.go-jek.com

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Spinny, a Delhi based startup in the used car industry, has recently completed the merger of HopCar, another startup in the same industry. The merger will allow Spinny to strengthen its consumer products as well as the development of its technology while at the same time streamlining operations to achieve greater efficiency.

HopCar was established in August, 2015 to provide consumers with a one stop solution to buy and sell used cars. The online vertical focused on giving consumers value, trust, and convenience and targeted the information asymmetry of the used car market. In a similar vein, Spinny was established with the prime directive of improving the consumer experience and their interaction with the used car market. HopCar had been working to provide customers all the relevant information they required, whether they were buying or selling, so as to ensure information asymmetry didn’t take place at any point in the transaction.

Image Source - MySpinny
Image Source* – MySpinny

HopCar’s founding team includes Arijit Biswas, Rahul Thakur, Anish Karan and Rahul Anand and between them they are bringing a wealth of experience and innovation to Spinny.  The approach and the experience of the HopCar fit well with Spinny, which was the prime motive behind the merger.

On the occasion, CEO and Co-founder of Spinny, Niraj Singh said

The used car market is a very fragmented segment with many different players tackling the same issues in their own ways. HopCar was one such player who were working on very similar lines to our own at Spinny. The technology they were developing, their work philosophy, and their approach to the market made the merger with HopCar a natural choice. The merger brings immediate benefits for Spinny as it will allow Spinny to further strengthen its position in the Delhi-NCR region and bring greater efficiency to our operations in Bengaluru as well.

Adding to this, Co-founder of HopCar and now a core team member at Spinny, Arijit Biswas said

Our experience in the used car market has shown us that the issues in the market were too great to solve alone. However, finding a partner to tackle these issues wasn’t so straightforward either. Spinny’s vision synced naturally with our own and we look forward to working with Spinny and their team to deliver a satisfactory consumer experience.

Both companies were working on their own Price and Rating Engines. Through this merger, the engines will be combined, improving the accuracy and depth of the engines. This will help Spinny roll out fully featured and developed Algorithmic Engines that will help the consumer to understand the reasoning behind the pricing and certification provided by Spinny.

HopCar’s merger places Spinny in an advantageous position in the Delhi-NCR pre-owned car market. The company is currently streamlining its operations in Bangalore and looks to expand into Tier I and Tier II cities by the end of 2016. The introduction of the Price Engine and Rating Engine in the coming months will allow Spinny to better cater to consumer needs while at the same also further improve the overall consumer experience for people looking for a reliable, data-driven, and transparent platform to buy or sell pre-owned cars.

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Bengaluru-based conversational m-commerce start-up, Goodbox has acquired SmartPocket for an undisclosed amount. SmartPocket started out as a mobile app that allowed customers to digitize their loyalty cards. They were working towards making SmartPocket the online wallet for customers to make online payments, place orders with offline partners as well as store all their virtual cards in one place.

SmartPocket was co-founded by Kiran Shastri and Mayank Shah. They will be joining the leadership team at Goodbox post acquisition. Goodbox enables small businesses to become e-commerce ready, on the Goodbox app, within minutes by providing seamless discovery, ordering and payment. Consumers can buy directly, over messaging, from their trusted stores across multiple categories without having to download multiple apps.

Abey Zachariah, CEO & Co-founder of Goodbox said

The SmartPocket team is very talented and tenacious. During our discussions with them, we realized we share a similar vision and it made sense to join forces to empower millions of SMEs to come online. We are building very strong mobile capabilities and this is a step towards that objective. We are very excited to be building Goodbox along with them.

Kiran Shastri, CEO & Co-founder of SmartPocket said

We are excited about joining the team at Goodbox. We have a shared vision and now a shared goal. At Smartpocket, we wanted to create a marketplace with a focus on repeat business and customer loyalty through a digital wallet. We will now look to bring that mindset, technology and expertise with us into Goodbox. There is a clear need among businesses for a platform that enables them to sell on mobile and Goodbox is catering to that need -while it creates one of the largest consumer platforms that enables them to buy directly from their trusted businesses on a single app.

Goodbox had recently announced its Series A funding of $2.5 million from Nexus Venture Partners.

About Goodbox

Goodbox gives an app presence to businesses. It enables a business to create a storefront on the Goodbox app. Businesses want to adopt new technologies such as being on app, having a storefront and being able to interact with their consumers real-time. However, creating or maintaining an app is a very costly and complex affair. Goodbox enables SME businesses with an app presence within 5 minutes at an unbelievably low price, along with a payment gateway. Businesses can host their menu on the app and create their business profile as well. Every business can now be on the Goodbox app and start conducting commerce with their consumers. Goodbox app for Android can be downloaded from here

[Image Credit* – IndiaWeb2]

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Helpchat, a chat-based personal assistant app that helps you get more things done, has agreed to acquire Mumbai-based start-up Niffler for an undisclosed amount. Niffler was incepted as a discovery platform for users to access deals & discounts from local brick and mortar stores. It recently introduced chat-based interactions between consumers and local businesses. This makes Niffler a perfect DNA match for Helpchat and the acquisition is a step further in the consolidation of Helpchat’s dominant position in the chat-based personal assistant eco-system in India.

HelpChat_Niffler

Both Niffler and Helpchat share the common vision of facilitating the everyday life and tasks of consumers with the right information over the highly convenient and quick medium of chat.  Acquisition will also enable Helpchat to launch its services in Pune and Mumbai faster as Niffler already has a presence in these key markets. Post the acquisition, the entire team at Niffler will join Helpchat.

Ankur Singla, CEO and Founder, Helpchat said

We are geared for aggressive pan-India growth in the coming few months. The acquisition of Niffler is one of the first major steps in this direction. Niffler team has expertise on community-driven experiences and retailer supported commerce.  They share our vision of enabling consumers to get more done through chat-based personal assistance. Acquisition will also help Helpchat accelerate the growth of its personal assistant engine across the areas of offline commerce and local deals based on user’s intent.

We are thrilled to have the Niffler team on board and look forward to their contributions in further bolstering Helpchat’s position as a smart personal assistant app for the Indian consumer

Edul Patel, Co-Founder Niffler said

In Helpchat we found the perfect partners to further our mission of plugging the information gap that exists in India. We share Helpchat’s vision of assisting consumers in getting more done by doing less, using its chat-based personal assistant app. We look forward to combining our brand synergies and expertise with theirs and setting new benchmarks in the way consumer-get their daily task done in India.

Co-founded by Edul Patel, Prince Arora and Viraj Shah, Niffler was launched in July 2014 with the objective of providing a location-based contextual offers and deals discovery platform for the Indian consumers. It had raised funding worth $1 million in March 2015 from SAIF partners.

About Helpchat

Helpchat is the personal assistant app that helps you get more things done. Be it anything, from recharging your phone to tech support, from travel booking to holiday guidance, from ordering food to shopping assistance to finding deals & coupons, from finding gifts to suggesting the best electronic item, from doing a web check-in to getting your laundry done – Helpchat can get all of them done for you.

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Altran has announced the acquisition of SiCon Design Technologies [SiConTech], an engineering services company specialised in semiconductor design. SiConTech currently works with seven of the top ten global semiconductor companies and was ranked one of the fastest growing ASIC design services companies in India by Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India in 2013 and 2014.

Founded in Bangalore in 2010, the company has a team of over 500 experts, specialised in ASIC Design, Verification, DFT [Design For Test], FPGA [Field-Programmable Gate Array] implementation & embedded software development.

AltranThe acquisition of SiConTech is perfectly in line with the Group strategy to expand its footprint in India and reinforce the Altran global Intelligent Systems solution dedicated to autonomous systems, smartphones, smart meters, medical devices, connected cars, advanced air traffic control & smart sensors.

Commenting on the operation, Dominique Cerutti, Altran Chairman & CEO,  stated

This acquisition meets all the acquisition criteria defined by our group in terms of profitability and growth potential. For Altran, the interests of this operation are two-fold: India is a key market for delivering engineering services on the global stage where Altran is set on becoming a key player. With this acquisition, the Group has reached and surpassed a symbolic milestone and Altran India now has a team of more than one thousand employees. In addition, the acquisition of SiConTech will enable us to accompany our strategic American clients operating in semi-conductors and embedded software, two major sectors.

Sanjay Kumar, CEO & Managing Director of Altran India added

From the time Altran gained a foothold in India, we’ve gone from strength to strength with respect to innovating and delivering more value to our customers in all industrial sectors both in India and throughout the world. The acquisition of SiConTech will help us to enhance our embedded software offering and to expand our range of services

Speaking for SiConTech, company CEO Naveen Chava said

Altran and SiConTech share the same drive to make a difference and innovate through technology. Becoming part of the Altran group will broaden our expertise, as well as enhance both our client portfolio and our research and development capacity, and reinforce our position with our customers. We are very excited about what the future holds for us as part of a larger organisation.

The acquisition of SiConTech was financed entirely by the Altran group and will be EPS enhancing as of the first year. The operation is expected to be finalised in 2015, and is subject to customary conditions precedent.

About Altran

As global leader in innovation and high-tech engineering consulting, Altran accompanies its clients in the creation and development of their new products and services. Altran Innovation Makers have been providing their expertise for over thirty years to key players in the Aerospace, Automotive, Defence, Energy, Finance, Life Sciences, Railway, and Telecoms sectors, among others. Covering every stage of project development from strategic planning to manufacturing, Altran solutions capitalise on the Group’s technological know-how in five key areas: Innovative Product Development, Intelligent Systems, Lifecycle Experience, Mechanical Engineering, and Information Systems.

In 2014, the Altran group generated revenues of 1.756 bn euros. For more information, please visit Altran

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UrbanLadderLogo

Urban Ladder, India’s leading online furniture company has acqui-hired the BuynBrag team. Prithvi Raj Tejavath, co-founder of BuynBrag along with key team members has joined Urban Ladder as “VP – Home Decor” in an effort to strengthen and increase the talent pool of Urban Ladder.

Urban Ladder was launched in July 2012 with the vision of making a million Indian homes beautiful. So far, the company has remained focused on the furniture category and its closely curated furniture range has become synonymous with world class designs and impeccable quality.

Speaking about the acqui-hire, Ashish Goel, CEO & Co-founder, Urban Ladder:

Over the last two years, we have been able to do very interesting work in the furniture space and we are delighted with the feedback we have received from our customers. While we will continue to provide our customers with best in class furniture, we feel now is the right time to add a wider home decor range to our catalogue. We are happy to have Prithvi and the BuynBrag team join us to work their magic in the home decor category.

BuynBrag was launched in 2012 and is known for its contemporary design and extensive decor & furnishings range.

Joining the Urban Ladder team as the VP of Home decor, Prithvi Raj Tejavath said:

Urban Ladder has made a huge impact in the furniture category and has created a niche for itself. My team from BuynBrag and I look forward to contributing our expertise in the home decor segment for Urban Ladder. The amalgamation of the teams will lead to producing the best in the home decor space in the times to come.

Off-Late Urban Ladder has been in news for receiving funding from Mr Ratan Tata & launching it’s Augmented Reality App “Living Spaces”