Reliance Retail To Invest INR 300 Cr in Robotics Company Addverb Technologies

Reliance Industries’ subsidiary Reliance Retail is likely to pick up a minority stake in Noida-based warehouse-focussed robotics startup Addverb Technologies with an investment of around INR 300 Cr.

A report by VCCircle, citing people in the know, said that the deal would value the robotics startup in the range of INR 1,590 Cr – INR 1,660 Cr. Reliance Industries has not responded to queries mailed by Inc42 on the likely investment, so far.

If the deal passes through, it would be yet another major investment in a tech-based company by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries in recent times. The acquisition is well aligned with its objective of widening the ambit of offerings and consolidating its position.

Addverb was founded in 2016 by Amit Kumar, Ashu Kansal, Bir Singh, Neeraj Sharma, Prateek Jain and Sangeet Kumar.

In October this year, its CEO Sangeet Kumar had said that Addverb plans to expand its robot manufacturing unit in India to boost its output by around 10 times in the next financial year. It also talked about starting international operations in Singapore, Australia, Europe and in the US by the end of 2021.

According to the startup’s website, it caters to its clientele in over five countries. Its patrons include Amazon, Flipkart, ITC and Coca-Cola among others.

Addverb had earlier raised around $10 Mn from Jalaj Ashwin Dani of Asian Paints.

Reliance Retail has been on a shopping spree in both acquisitions and investments. For example, last month, it acquired a 100 per cent stake in the retail lingerie businesses under the ‘amante’ umbrella  brand from MAS Brands— a wholly-owned subsidiary of MAS Holdings, Sri Lanka.

In September this year, it took significant control of Just Dial Limited by acquiring a 40.98% stake in the company.

During the July-September quarter, Reliance Industries’ subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd acquired Milkbasket. Milkbasket is a subscription-based daily micro-delivery service, delivering fresh foods and daily needs to consumers.

Milkbasket was just another startup in Mukesh Ambani-led RIL’s shopping cart aimed at building its ecommerce empire. Other recent tech-based startups acquisitions by RIL include epharmacy startup Netmeds, online furniture startup Urban Ladder and Zivame among others.

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