Category: Startup
Carousell buys Duriana to consolidate position as largest mobile classified marketplace in APAC
Singapore-based P2P marketplace Carousell announced today that it has acquired Duriana, a Malaysian-based mobile classifieds startup, in part to position itself as a major mobile classifieds player in the market.
After the acquisition, Duriana customer base of 600,000 users will be migrated to the Carousell platform, where they can continue buying and selling online as part of a larger global community. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.
“We saw that Duriana users had similar demographics and interests in buying and selling fashion items, gadgets, and electronics as well as home furnishing,” said Quek Siu Rui, the co-founder and CEO of Carousell. “By bringing Duriana users onto the Carousell platform, we’re helping more people buy and sell their preloved items quickly and easily.”
This would make Duriana the third acquisition of Carousell in less than six months since their US$35 million Series B round led by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Ventures which has brought its total aggregate equity funding raised to an estimated US$41.8 million.
This also signals a growth strategy of becoming a major global mobile classifieds marketplace, following the last acquisition of online car marketplace Caarly in October 2016.
“This acquisition accelerates our international growth and strengthens our position as the largest mobile classified marketplace in Malaysia with over five million listings,” Quek explained.
“It also builds on our strong growth in the Philippines, our fastest market to reach over half million listings, and positions Carousell as the leader in the Philippines mobile classifieds industry just four months after our official launch in the market,” he further added.
Founded in October 2014, Duriana is a mobile marketplace for all things beautiful. The Malaysia startup has previously raised about US$3.3 million funding from investors – Alps Ventures and Beenos, which following this deal will provide an exit for both investors.
On the other hand, Carousell since its launch in August 2012, has been growing rapidly in the country, expanding to 19 cities in seven countries, including its recent entry to Hong Kong, Philippines, and Australia. The startup also claims to have over 57 million listings and over 23 million items sold as of Q4 2016.
Commenting on the acquisition, co-founder and CEO of Duriana, Saeed Gouda said that, “It’s been an exciting three years with Duriana, and we’re proud to have brought the company to this stage. After this exit, we’re looking forward to pursuing a new adventure. Carousell is shaking up the mobile classifieds space, and we’re confident that Duriana users will enjoy buying, selling and connecting as part of the vibrant Carousell community.”
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
TempoGo raises US$825k in seed funding round led by K2 Capital
TempoGO, an Internet of Things (IoT) and SaaS solutions provider for commercial transportation has secured a Rs 5.6 crore (about US$825k) seed investment recently.
The round was led by Hong Kong-based K2 Capital Group along with the participation of a network of several high net worth individuals (HNI) Hong Kong-based investment bankers.
The latest capital will be mainly used to upgrade the technology as well as hiring more professionals to add to the existing 15 employees in the company.
Founded in 2015 and operated by Carryage Technologies Pvt Ltd, the Mumbai-based startup provides IoT and Saas solutions for the transportation industry using an integrated platform that connects vehicles, people, and trips, improving the productivity of a commercial vehicle fleet, either by passenger or freight.
“With the second-largest road network in the world, India has over 8 million commercial transportation vehicles that drive across the length of 4.7 million kilometers of roads. But unbelievably, nearly 75 percent of these do not yet leverage technology,” said Pranav Shirke, the co-founder, and COO of TempoGO.
TemporGO’s platform consist of two layers, one powered by Internet of Things (IoT) sensors on vehicles and another by software-as-a-service (SaaS).
The IoT layer comprises a GPS-based hardware unit, which includes a built-in vehicle immobiliser that tracks vehicle location and speed and a sensors-set., plus an OBD 2 adapter to automatically record and transmit engine data as well as vehicle behaviour including sudden acceleration or deceleration. Besides, it also monitors the ‘Door-open’ and temperature variation status of the load-bay,
On the other hand, the SaaS layer includes Trip Management and Fleet Management software and a dashboard for actionable business intelligence using data analytics.
Over the past 12 months, the TempoGo solution claims to have been proven on over 1,800 inter-city trips in India covering 650,000-plus kilometers, for 300 clients including Bisleri, Blue Dart, Oyo Rooms and Havells.
Aaditya Goyal, the Head of Technology at TempoGO says, “We are a unique combination of IoT sensors (GPS, temperature, door closing) on the vehicle plus a SaaS platform. This allows simple answers to key questions: Is my driver driving dangerously or at high speeds? Or pilfering fuel? Is he adhering to pre-decided routes? What state is my cargo in? Did the temperature inside my cold-chain container vary? When should I take them in for maintenance? How can I reduce vehicle insurance premiums?”
TempoGO’s has a range of clients from freight transport companies, cold-chain companies, logistics companies, distribution companies with their own vehicles, bus or taxi operators, corporate employee or school bus fleets.
TempoGo was incubated at Goa-based Prototyze, which has catalysed other funded companies, including a mobile fitness company – MobieFit, a Saas-based mobile platform for corporate training – HandyTrain, and Seynse, a financial technology company that operates a digital lending platform called Loan Singh.
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
China’s Sogou targets IPO at US$5 billion valuation to rival Baidu
China’s third-biggest search engine Sogou is expected to hold a U.S. initial public offering this year, according to a report by Bloomberg, based on its interview with Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan.
The IPO of Sogou, a subsidiary of Chinese internet giant Sohu.com (SOHU) is likely to release about 10 percent of its total share to the financial market in the United States at a market valuation of US$5 billion.
It is also reportedly said that Sogou, whose name translates as search dog, is planning to use part of the IPO proceeds to improve search results by backing companies developing artificial intelligence. Despite so, the company is yet to formally hire investment bankers to run the listing.
Though Sohu remains the leading investor, Sogou is also backed by Tencent after the China Internet service portal giant paid US$448 million for a 36.5% stake in the Sohu unit. In 2013, Tencent Holdings (TCEHY) and Sogou merged their search engine technology and services to better compete against China search leader Baidu.
According to Bloomberg, Baidu held a 44.5% share of mobile search queries in the third quarter, followed by Alibaba-backed Shenma at 20.8% share and Sogou at 10.2%.
But while Baidu remains the biggest provider across all platforms in China, it is under siege after a scandal over a medical advertising incident, giving smaller rivals including Sogou and Qihoo 360 Technology the opportunity to win over mobile users.
“Over the past year, we’ve seen a trend where people are finding themselves not trusting Baidu as much and some are even seeking a replacement,” Wang Xiaochuan, the CEO of Sogou since 2010 explained.
“So over the next year or two, as more people feel more comfortable with Sogou they’ll realise it is able to replace Baidu,” he adds.
At present, Sogou is the only search engine formally allowed to crawl through the published messages on Tencent’s WeChat platform, which has more than 800 million users.
The Tencent-backed search engine is also signing deals with device makers to ensure more smartphones are shipped with its software already installed, adopting a successful strategy previously used by microblog Weibo.
Sogou is also launching new search services aimed at bringing foreign results to Chinese audiences. By using translation technology, its customers will be able to search the English-speaking web with Mandarin search terms that will automatically translate the content back into Chinese.
“This is a turnaround year for us,” Wang Xiaochuan said.
With its IPO in planning, shares in Sohu increased by 4.9% to US$35.54 in New York on Tuesday, retaking its 50-day line for the first time in more than two months.
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
India-based instantPay secures pre-Series A funding from RB Investments, Kaleden
A digital payments and financial services startup, instantPay has announced that it has secured its pre-Series A funding round from Singapore-based investors – RB Investment and Kaleden Holdings.
“It is rare to find a small company that has remained cash positive in this industry,” Gurinder Singh, the managing director at Kaleden Holdings commented in regards to the investment.
The exact amount raised was not disclosed, but it was reportedly said to be in the range of Rs 20 crore to Rs 34 crore (about US$3 to US$5 million).
These latest proceedings will be used for talent acquisition, developing new products as well as the geographical expansion across India. Additionally, part of the New Delhi startup funding will also be used for brand-building and marketing.
Launched in 2012 by Sankalp Shangari, Shailendra Agarwal, and Mohammad Rehan, instantPay is a business unit of SMSdaak India Limited, which provides more than 100 products and services which facilitate digital payments at Kirana stores in tier-2 and 3 cities.
The products and services are distributed through over 400 corporate strategic alliances and through a nationwide network of micro-merchants, offering services which include electronic mobile recharges, DTH and utility bill payments, insurance premium payments, travel bookings, domestic remittance etc.
Additionally, their financial institutions and merchants can also provide a host of supplementary services to their consumers, thus up-selling and cross-selling their existing portfolios. The platform currently has over 62,000 merchants and targets to cross 120,000 merchants by March 2017.
“While we build this massive network, we are also enabling other products and services to be delivered via this distribution directly and efficiently,” said Sankalp Shangari, the cofounder of instantPay.
At the moment, instantPay claims to be processing around 10 million transactions per month and is looking to touch the 50 million mark by FY18.
Besides, the company has also been profitable, having closed FY16 “net positive in a few lakh”. For FY17, the startup is aiming at a 20% leap in growth with a four-fold jump in revenue for FY18.
“Companies should target to make unit economics sustainable before taking long bets in the market and aggressively aiming for market share,” said Rajesh Bothra, the Managing Director at RB investments.
The investors also add that the key challenge for companies in this space in the upcoming year would be to mitigate cyber security risks following a surge in business due to demonetisation.
At present, the company’s network comprises of more than 50,000 outlets across districts in India, for leading telcos and direct to home service providers.
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
Everstone makes third healthcare acquisition, investing US$35 million in OmniActive Health
India-based private equity (PE) fund Everstone Capital has invested US$35 million (about Rs 232 crore) in Mumbai-based nutraceutical ingredient player OmniActive Health Technologies for a significant minority stake on Monday.
OmniActive Health Technologies is a leading supplier of naturally sourced ingredients for eye health, weight management and heart health to global nutraceutical companies that provide food supplements and nutritional fortification.
The company is equipped with the state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, R&D centers across India and Canada, as well as sales and marketing presence across the United States, Europe, and Aisa. This latest capital will be used to help OmniActive in diversifying and expanding its offerings and implement its inorganic growth strategy.
“We welcome this partnership with the Everstone Group .with the support of its experienced teams and funding, OmniActive looks forward to building on our history of solid organic growth by further strengthening our presence globally using innovative products and technologies,” said Sanjaya Mariwala, the managing director of OmniActive Health.
“This will be done by also growing inorganically to bring a wider product portfolio of responsibly make ingredients to our customers through our strategic acquisitions,” Mariwala added.
Founded in 2005, OmniActive, over the last decade, has emerged as the leading nutraceutical ingredient supplier to international markets from India, helped by the gradual shift in the nutraceuticals sectors towards the increasing demand in the consumption of natural products.
In the last 18 months, the nutraceutical firm claims that it has completed 12 human clinical trials in healthy populations across its portfolio of branded ingredients. The company also holds a strong presence in the United States and is working to achieve similar success in Europe and Asia.
As part of the deal, Everstone will be represented by Deep Mishra, the Managing Director at Everstone India, who will join OmniActive’s board as a nominee director, along with Dr. Leendert Staal, an internationally reputed nutraceutical expert who was the CEO of the global industry leader DSM Nutritional Products from 2008 to 2013.
Co-founded by Sameer Sain and Atul Kapur, former Goldman Sachs executives in 2006, Everstone Capital has been an active PE investor in India. The PE major assets that it has US$3.3 billion under management, as well as around 200 employees working across five offices located in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Mauritius, and London.
“This investment aims at helping OmniActive scale its already strong presence in the fast-growing nutraceutical space. We are excited about partnering with the Mariwala family and building a world-class global business,” said Sameer Sain, the co-founder and managing partner of Everstone Group.
With this deal, the OmniActive investment will also become the fifth acquisition from its third PE fund – Everstone Capital Partners III that it has closed in September 2015 as well as the company’s third acquisition in the healthcare and wellness sector which has completed in less than a year period.
Everstone acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-based drug delivery technology firm Rubicon Research Pvt. Ltd, a pioneering drug delivery technology company for approximately $33 million in October 2015. Preceded by a majority stake in Ascent Health, an Indian pharmaceutical delivery services provider, in March.
Avendus Capital advised OmniActive on this deal as the investment banker.
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media