NowFloats acquires chat app LookUp for an undisclosed amount
Hyderabad based NowFloats, which helps local businesses get online has acquired Bangalore based LookUp for an undisclosed amount, reports YourStory. LookUp allows businesses and customers to interact with each other through an Android and iOS chat application; the company’s core team will be joining NowFloats’ team next week. LookUp will function as an independent brand, added the report.
LookUp allows users to search for a shop, service or product and then chat with them to purchase products online.The app claims that users can book doctors, dentists, salons, get laundry washed, find markers, get electronics repaired and even look for the nearest petrol pump or ATM.
LookUp funding: The company had raised $2.5 million in funding led by Khosla Impact and participation from Catamaran Ventures, Global Founder Capital and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, in October last year. In January 2015, Lookup raised $382,000 in seed funding from various investors. This included funding from Japanese investors Teruhide Sato and DeNA Co., other than $160,000 from Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and $100,000 from MKS Switzerland in December last year.
In February last year, NowFloats had raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from Omidyar Network, Mumbai Angels, Blume Ventures and Hyderabad Angels to enhance its distribution platform, for customer acquisition and to expand globally. Businesses can register with NowFloats and utilize— Lighthouse and Wildfire—the two flagship products the company offers. Lighthouse offers merchants updates via its web portal, custom background on websites, unlimited gallery images and email addresses along with up to 500 email subscribers for Rs 20,000 per year. Wildfire on the other hand offers organic traffic optimization, along with driving inorganic traffic. The platform claims to auto-promote websites on channels like Google and Facebook and costs Rs 60,000 for 6 months. More Here.
***
Cashify acquires Used products marketplace MobiBing
Gurgaon based Cashify, which offers a platform for selling used electronic goods has acqui-hired Bangalore based MobiBing in all stock deal, reports Livemint. MobiBing was founded in 2015 and offers an online marketplace for to buy and sell overstock, refurbished and un-boxed gadgets—similar to Overcart that raised $3 million last week.
Post acquisition, MobiBing’s entire team will join Cashify’s core team, while its founder Sibgathulla Zeeshan will head MobiBing’s operations in Bangalore, as per the report.
Cashify provides an online platform for a user to sell old or used gadgets online. The company quotes prices to users before purchase of used devices, and runs exchange buyback offers with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), e-commerce and offline retailers. The company claims to complete 20,000 transactions a month and has 500 active vendors out of 800 registered vendors on its platform.. Cashify earns a commission of 5-15% per transaction depending on the device.
Image Credits: nyphotographic under CC BY-SA 3.0
