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India's <keyword id="2914658" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="leading-smartphone-handset-player">leading smartphone handset player</keyword>, <keyword id="181985" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Micromax-Informatics-Limited">Micromax Informatics Limited</keyword>, on Monday announced its investment in <keyword id="6433699" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ixigo">ixigo</keyword>, a mobile travel search and marketplace. 

	ixigo helps Indian travellers plan their trips, find the best train and bus services, book cheapest flights, cabs, hotels and more. Following the investment, Micromax will strengthen its foray into application services. It will also give ixigo a reach of over 30 million incremental users over the next year.
 <keyword id="13079" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rahul-Sharma">Rahul Sharma</keyword>, Co-founder, Micromax Informatics said, "We are really impressed with ixigo's talented team and its mobile technology. We look forward to working closely with them to build on-demand and one-click travel experiences for Micromax consumers. We will be announcing more such partnerships over the next few months to accelerate our journey into services." Micromax had last month announced that it would be making <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> of 20 million dollars in over 20 startups in the coming year. For this objective, Micromax has also set up an M&amp;A team which has been actively sourcing and working with startups across major technology markets such as <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword>, Europe, Israel and India to bring in the best products and capabilities. 

	Meanwhile, Aloke Bajpai, CEO &amp; co-founder, ixigo said, "Eighty per cent of our travel &amp; transportation queries and 50% of our transactions currently originate on mobile devices. This partnership with Micromax will strengthen our market leadership in mobile travel services for middle class users. We expect to quadruple our mobile user-base in the next 12 months."
 

	ixigo aims to provide relevant travel services to the next 300 million smartphone users, and has recently entered the budget hotels, packages &amp; cabs segments. It plans to use this investment for expanding its product &amp; technology team and to add 25,000 small and mid-sized travel service providers to its marketplace offering, making ixigo the most comprehensive platform for comparing and buying travel services on mobile.

	 
	(Image: Indiatimes)

After Healthifyme.com, Micromax invests in ixigo

Micromax was one of the first home-grown companies to get into the smartphone race. Cut to now, the company is already one of the largest players in the business and also has a sub-brand called as Yu Televentures. But this is not news; the news is that the company is now looking to pump in $400 million in Indian start ups. 
 
While talking to PTI, Micromax co-founder <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Rahul-Sharma" target="_blank">Rahul Sharma</a>, said "Going ahead, we will invest in not less than 20 start-ups, where we see synergies. We are looking at building an ecosystem of connected devices and offer customised experience to users”. 
 
The very first company that has benefitted from this move is Bangalore-based start-up HealthifyMe, which is an app in fitness space and also offers a wearable. If the chances of Micromax making a wearable product has been just a rumor till now then things are sure to speed up with this latest development. 
 
Without divulging on the investment details, Micromax has categorically stated its intentions to look beyond mobile and smartphones in the coming years. This development falls in line with promise made by Micromax co-founder, Rahul Sharma who talked up the prospect of funding startups which will enable the brand to differentiate from what it has been doing all these years. 
 
 Democratising has been part of Micromax’s strategy since the start of 2015. While they have been present in the television space for a while now, they recently announced themselves in the PC+ segment with first-ever Micromax branded 2-in-1 Windows device. 
 
By investing its energy and efforts into HealthifyMe, Micromax could be angling at the wearable segment in a discreet way and now that people are getting to know all about a fitness gear, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to have Micromax making wearable debut in the coming months. 
 
Either that, or Micromax will utilize HealtifyMe’s prowess to develop software ecosystem that will be provided on future Canvas devices. Whatever be the case, it will be interesting to see if Micromax vies for some heated action against the likes of Xiaomi Mi Band.

Micromax turns messiah for startups, eyeing 20 companies to
pump $400 million

Showing confidence in Pune and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Silicon+Valley+">Silicon Valley</a> based startup Scandid, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Micromax">Micromax</a> has made a strategic investment in this app which helps customers compare prices and get information about discounts offered by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart%2C+Snapdeal%2C+Amazon+">Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon</a> and hundreds of other e-Commerce stores. 
 
Scandid is a mobile first price comparison and savings discovery platform that let you know about discounts across top <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-Commerce+">e-Commerce</a> as well as local retailers, helping users make informed choices. 
 The <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> from <keyword id="71696" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Micromax">Micromax</keyword> comes as part of its ongoing <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> of up to $20 million dollars in over 20 startups from the starting of this year. 
 
Nearing half a dozen strategic investments, Micromax is strengthening its application services and innovative product offerings, as it looks to develop additional capabilities to fight competition. 
 Commenting about the development, Micromax co-founder, <keyword id="13079" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rahul-Sharma">Rahul Sharma</keyword> said: "Today users do not want to switch between different apps for shopping, be it online or offline. We have a roadmap to provide integrated services and leverage the mobile as a platform to converge these services. We believe that Scandid has an edge with its offering in the mobile shopping scenario and we will be able to bring value to our customers." 
 
This app makes a comparison about prices across 10 million products from 200 online merchants. Scandid also provides information from local neighbourhood retailers. 
 
Sushil Choudhari, founder of Scandid said: "Scandid's presence on all Micromax smartphones will provide a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-Commerce+">rich shopping experience</a> to Micromax users out of the box. As m-commerce grows and mobile becomes the key platform to not just shop but also compare to get best deals.” 
 
Micromax's investment will help reach the last mile customer and strengthen the firms’ position as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-Commerce+">the leading mobile shopping destination</a>. 
 
So far Micromax has invested in ixigo, a mobile travel search and marketplace, consumer cloud provider MiMedia and fitness solutions provider Healthifyme among others. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Micromax now helps you compare discounts offered by e-Commerce firms via Scandid, a price comparison startup

<keyword id="71696" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Micromax">Micromax</keyword> is developing its own operating system as a suite of services and apps which will run across its phones, tablets, televisions and wearables, as it goes up the value chain to differentiate itself from increasing competition. Spearheaded by former <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> executive <keyword id="70775" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ashish-Agrawal">Ashish Agrawal</keyword>, who is the new technology head at Micromax, the OS will be a forked Android - a platform developed on <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword>'s open source mobile OS. The first smartphones with the new OS will be available by the end of this financial year and they will be affordably priced, Micromax cofounder <keyword id="144780" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vikas-Jain">Vikas Jain</keyword> told ET. 

	"We're excellent with partnerships and we don't want to reinvent the wheel," Jain said, while specifying that the company was not breaking away from Android but was working with the globally dominant Android OS to bring a differentiated experience to consumers across all platforms, including wearables.
 Agrawal said the likes of <keyword id="6354427" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Apple">Apple</keyword>, <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> and Xiaomi, which have their own OS across platforms, are translating what they have done internationally to India. In contrast, Micromax is closer to the Indian consumer and therefore has a better understanding of the local market and insights based on which it will build the customer experience. 

	"Our (Indian) use cases are much different from a US or Chinese customer," he said. As hardware is becoming a commodity, Micromax wants to start investing in software to differentiate itself. However, the company did not want to alienate its set of consumers and developers, majority of who are on Android, by building an operating system from the ground up.
 

	The No 2 handset brand in India, which closed fiscal 2015 with Rs 11,000 crore of revenue, sells about 3 million phones a month, two-thirds of which are smartphones, and has a 16.7% share of smartphones and 14.4% share overall devices in the local market as per Counterpoint Research.
 It is No. 3 in the tablet segment with a 9% share for the quarter ended March 2015, according to Cybermedia Research, trailing <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword> and Datawind. Jain said Micromax is among the top five players in the Indian television market with an 8% share, selling about 70,000 units a month. Jain said the first 'smart-non-mobile device' from the company stable would hit the retail market by the end of the year. 

	Despite its strong performance in the smartphone and other product segments, the company's future growth would have to come from services built on top of its products to ensure customer stickiness and brand loyalty - a difficult feat given Indian users' discerning and value-for-money profile.
 

	Over past year, Micromax tied up with Cynogen for using its OS on Yu brand of smartphones through a wholly-owned subsidiary. The company has also begun investing in startups that build services which can be integrated into devices - for instance health start up Healthifyme, online travel portal ixigo and US-based consumer cloud provider MiMedia. The services and apps being developed would also extend to the Yu series.
 

	The forked Android OS is being developed by the company's software team in Bengaluru. About 75 people in design teams acquired from Nokia R&amp;D in Beijing and a second one coming up in Shenzen will support this venture, including in building apps ecosystem and partnerships back home.
 

	(Image credits: Indiatimes)

Micromax to have its own OS soon

Yu had a few surprises up its sleeves earlier today. In addition to Yuphoria smartphone, the brand also managed to delve into the affordable wearable fitness space with YuFit. If Yu had given its clearest indication that Xiaomi is their closest competition then YuFit makes the case even more compelling. The fitness band will be sold in the country for Mi Band-like price of Rs 999 and the craze is set to double up for wearable gadgets. 
 
However, while Xiaomi failed (or decided) to offer display on the Mi Band, Yu has outdone its rival with YuFit for the same price—but more or less the same features in tow. Yu has majorly benefited from <a href="http://www.in.techradar.com/news/wearables/Micromax-is-slowly-building-its-base-to-enter-the-wearablespace/articleshow/47201834.cms">Micromax’s recent investment in HealthifyMe which has resulted in the making of YuFit</a> and its companion application from the same company. 
 
YuFit has been designed on the lines of Samsung’s Galaxy Fit but this one is available for five times lower than fitness band from the Korean brand. The band will help you track your steps, calorie count, offer users call and message notification understands sleep pattern and everything else that one expects a fitness band to offer these days. 
 
The display is a definite bonus on the YuFit and with OLED quality; we just hope that doesn’t end up eating up the band’s battery life, something that Xiaomi has managed with its 30-day support on Mi Band. And if that isn’t enough for health freaks then you get to track diet specific to Indian taste as well. Unlike Yuphoria, YuFit will start selling in the country from next month onwards.

YuFit is another Rs 999 fitness band but with an OLED display

From 25% to 40%! Well, that’s a giant leap. And with an aim to be a major player in India’s ecommerce, China’s Alibaba group is keeping no stones unturned. Having increased the stake in India e-tailer Paytm, Alibaba has strengthened its foothold. 
 
As per a news report by The Economic Times, Alibaba, which first bought stake at Paytm early this year, is negotiating to invest over $600 million (Rs 4,000 crore) to pick up a 20 per cent additional stake. 
 
The fresh investment, which subsumes an outstanding tranche of the previous transaction under which Alibaba Group was to have pumped in another $375 million, will see Paytm being valued at $3.7 billion (Rs 23,600 crore) on a post money basis, a 270 % increase on the $1-billion valuation in the previous funding round, once again underlining the red-hot nature of India's ecommerce sector. Valuations have been soaring in this space, best exemplified by sector leader Flipkart, which raised money in May last year at a valuation of $1 billion and is now in the market to raise fresh funds at a target value of $16 billion. 
 
"Paytm is expected to be Alibaba's ecommerce play in India. The plan is to create an ecosystem through companies that have large consumer touchpoints," source familiar with the deal tol d the ET, adding that the fresh funds would be used to expand operations. 
 
The deal is expected to catapult Paytm into the big league of Internet marketplaces alongside Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon India, with its backing by Alibaba, the $200-billion behemoth, giving it both expertise and staying power in an intensely competitive business. The financial contours of the transaction being negotiated could see existing investor Saif Partners dilute its equity to 32 per cent from 37 per cent while Paytm's founder and Chairman &amp; Managing Director Vijay Shekhar Sharma could reduce his shareholding to 21-22 per cent from 27 per cent now, the source said. 
 
Alibaba Group with this investment will become the biggest shareholder in the company, although Vijay Shekhar Sharma, 37, who founded One97 that owns Paytm will still own more than what his founder peers in rivals Flipkart and Snapdeal own in their firms. Representatives of the Alibaba Group and Paytm declined to comment while an emailed query to Saif seeking its response did not elicit any response. 
 
"As a matter of company policy, we decline to comment on market rumours and speculation," an Alibaba Group spokesperson told the ET in response to a query seeking confirmation. "We decline to comment on market speculations," a spokesperson of Ant Financial, a financial arm of Alibaba told the ET. Paytm and One97 founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma also declined to comment. 
 
 
Alibaba’s vision is clear. In India, Alibaba wants to create an ecosystem of mobile devices, operating systems, electronic payment solution and services such as entertainment and commerce on top of the ecosystem. To that end, the company is in talks to invest about $700 million in mobile phone maker Micromax, ET reported on June 25. The handset vendor in turn is looking to invest up to $400 million to buy into startups, creating a bouquet of services for its buyers and at the same time adding to Alibaba's ecosystem. Micromax has already picked up minority stake in Bengaluru-based health and fitness company 'HealthifyMe' in May, and is looking to make nearly 20 such investments this year.

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After Healthifyme.com, Micromax invests in ixigo

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Micromax turns messiah for startups, eyeing 20 companies to pump $400 million

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BI India Bureau

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YuFit is another Rs 999 fitness band but with an OLED display

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Alibaba buys 40% stake at Paytm

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