GirnarSoft, the parent company of CarDekho, Gaadi and Zigwheels, has made a strategic investment in the car testing and benchmarking firm Advanced Structures India (ASI). With this investment, ASI will provide the technical backend for reviewing cars listed on CarDekho. Founded in 2014 by Vaibhav Kumar and Rahul Ramola, ASI also offers various automotive design and testing facilities like for bus body engineering. The testing, simulation and design solutions provided by the company enable clients to prototype vehicle designs. Its current clients include Ather, Ashok Leyland, Rane and Compass group. GirnarSoft acquisitions: Earlier this month GirnarSoft acquired roadside assistance company Help On Wheels in an all cash deal. At the time, the company said that this acquisition would help it boost its roadside assistance vertical. In December, GirnarSoft acqui-hired Drishya360s, an augmented reality and video production startup in a cash and stock deal, for an undisclosed amount. In September 2015, CarDekho acquired Times Internet* owned auto portal Zigwheels for an undisclosed amount. In the same month in 2014, it acquired Gaadi. In April 2015, the company acquired price comparison website BuyingIQ for the team and their technology. New auto portals: Note that in January, GirnarSoft had said that it planned to launch multiple automobile verticals including ones for batteries, light commercial vehicles, insurance and hyperlocal roadside assistance services in the next few months. GirnarSoft’s new and old products would transition from being content platforms to ecommerce platforms, while it planned to expand to the Middle East and African regions, and…
