Alibaba in Talks to Buy Online Marketplace ShopCluesAlibaba, which aims to enter the domestic e-commerce market by early next year, has held discussions to acquire online marketplace ShopClues, which is valued at over $1 billion, reported TOI. Alibaba wants to merge the marketplace of Paytm, in which it has a stake, with the much bigger rival ShopClues, as it is prospecting several acquisition targets in the country. The Gurgaon-based ShopClues is backed by GIC of Singapore, Tiger Global, Nexus Venture Partners and Helion among its investors and has raised about $250 million till date.
Former Zynga and Yahoo executive K Guru Gowrappan, who is leading Alibaba's growth in Asian markets (excluding China), is driving the M&A talks with the senior management of ShopClues. Alibaba could value ShopClues at around $1 billion but the company's management is negotiating for a higher valuation.
TPG Growth in Early Talks to Acquire a Minority Stake in Mumbai Based Maternity Clinic Chain SuryaUS-based private equity firm TPG Growth is in early stages of a discussion to acquire a minority stake in Mumbai-based maternity clinic chain Surya Mother & Child Care Super Speciality Hospital, reported DealStreetAsia. TPG plans to acquire 25-30% stake for about Rs 80-100 crore, said two people close to the development. Surya aims to utilize the newly raised funding to expand into Mumbai’s suburbs and across Maharashtra.
HealthStart Announces the Third Batch of Its Accelerator ProgrammeHealthcare-focused startup incubator HealthStart has announced the third batch of its accelerator programme. A total of 200 companies had applied for the latest accelerator programme. As per VCCircle report, the list was first whittled down to 50. Of these, 20 companies were picked to make presentations and four were finally selected. The selected healthcare startups are Elth.Care, KidNurture, SportsPal and The Health Orange. HealthStart typically invests Rs 20-25 lakh from its accelerator fund for a 10% stake and a small additional stake for mentoring the ventures.
Nihilent Technologies Buys ICRA Techno Analytics for $10MNihilent Technologies, a Pune-based consulting and IT services company, has acquired ICRA Techno Analytics (ICTEAS) for Rs 68.75 crore ($10 million) in continuing with its expansion strategy. ICTEAS is a Kolkata headquartered company, with offices in California and Connecticut in the United States, and has expertise in analytics, data engineering and business process management. With this acquisition, Nihilent will now be able to enhance and consolidate its expertise in BI and Analytics, and present its offerings to clients world over, reported BusinessStandard.
