CCI Greenlights Jumbotail’s Proposal To Acquire Solv India

SUMMARY

However, the financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed

The proposed combination relates to the acquisition of 100% shareholding in Standard Chartered Research and Technology India-owned Solv India by Jumbotail

In March, Solv India mentioned that its investor SC Ventures nodded in favour of its acquisition by Jumbotail

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared a multi-layered deal involving B2B marketplace Jumbotail Technologies’ proposed acquisition of Solv India.

The CCI said in a statement that the proposed combination relates to the acquisition of 100% shareholding in Standard Chartered Research and Technology India-owned Solv India by Jumbotail.

However, the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Meanwhile, reports in February suggested that the buyout deal would be pegged at about $50 Mn (INR 428 Cr).

In March, Solv India mentioned that its investor SC Ventures nodded in favour of its acquisition by Jumbotail.

Founded in 2015 by Karthik Venkateswaran and Ashish Jhina, Jumbotail offers a suite of go-to-market products and services to connect emerging brands with mom-and-pop stores. It runs a B2B marketplace for groceries and food, which primarily caters to wholesale buyers. It claims to cater to over 50,000 kirana stores across India.

Being an ecommerce marketplace, the startup primarily earns revenue from the sale of products. It also earns revenue from the sale of services via its omnichannel retail brand J24, which integrates offline kirana stores and helps them sell both online and offline.

The startup also gets service income via its Golden Eye retail operating system, a cloud-based retail POS Operating System.

As per sources and as mentioned in the CCI summary reviewed by Inc42 earlier, the deal is a part share swap and part cash deal. Post the acquisition, the consolidated entity will be led by Jumbotail cofounders Venkateswaran and Jhina.

On the financial front, Jumbotail’s net loss surged 112% to INR 264.16 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 124.74 Cr in the previous fiscal year. However, its revenue from operations jumped 117% to INR 819 Cr from INR 377.36 Cr in FY22.

Jumbotail’s proposed acquisition of Solv India comes at a time when India’s online B2B marketplace is projected to hit $200 Bn by 2030, based on the latest Economic Diplomacy Division of IndBiz data.

On its growing market opportunity, online B2B startups are keen to expand their market reach through funding and acquisitions.

For instance, IndiaMART would be acquiring an additional stake in Bengaluru-based Mobisy Technologies, which operates SaaS startup Bizom, for INR 14.3 Cr in an all-cash deal, in November last year.

Meanwhile, B2B marketplace unicorns Zetwerk and OfBusiness have raised INR 43 Cr and INR 100 Cr, respectively, in the past two months, amid their public listing plans.