Noida-based Pocketin, a real-time restaurant deal startup, has been acqui-hired by online restaurant reservation portal, OneLoyalCard.
As per the terms of the deal, Pocketin’s entire team along with its co-founders will join OneLoyalCard. The move is aimed at strengthening latter’s technology and expansion plans across India. OneLoyalCard plans to expand in six cities by the end of this year.
Launched in 2015 by Arpit Aggarwal, Vaibhav Garg, and Sahil Mendiratta, OneLoyalCard provides a comprehensive marketing solution to the restaurants. Users can book tables, buy deals, and organise parties via its website and app.
The startup also offers a loyalty programme to its recurring users. As per an official statement, it provides more than 2000 deals at over 500 restaurants in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, and Faridabad.
Vaibhav Garg, Director at OneLoyalCard said, “We have always focussed on creating real value for both diners and restaurants. We have been asset light and have managed to build a loyal customer base in a space where others have been burning cash from their pockets. By acqui-hiring Pocketin, we will consolidate our position in Delhi NCR region and fast-forward our expansion plans to other major markets.”
Pocketin was founded in 2015 by Kshitij Mehra, Anirudh Mondal, Rahul Arora, Siddharth Sharma, and Akshay Utreja. The startup provides a platform for diners to discover, compare, and choose where they want to head out next, based on real-time deals offered, events happening around the diner, or pertaining to specific activity the diner might have in mind. (group packages, buffets, etc.)
Commenting on the development, Kshitij Mehra, co-founder of Pocketin says “ Pocketin found perfect synergy with OneLoyalCard as both the teams believed in similar values and our vision was in sync. We believe that at OneLoyalCard, we have the opportunity to build a better consumer oriented product and scale it faster across India. Our entire team is excited to embark on this new journey.”
In February, the startup secured $150K in a Seed round of funding from Hong Kong based Swastika Company Ltd. Earlier in September 2016, Gurgaon-based deals and coupons website, Nearbuy(formerly Groupon India) raised about $2 Mn (INR 15 Cr) venture debt from BlackSoil Capital Private limited. Other startups in this segment include Little, CouponDunia, PromOn among others.
