Online classifieds platform, Quikr has acquired home services startup Zimmber in an all-stock deal. According to a Mintreport, the acquisition was valued at $10 million and Quikr made this move to strengthen its position in the segment.
Zimmber, which was backed by IDG Ventures and TV Mohandas Pai’s Aarin Capital, claims to have raised about $7.4 million till date. Founded in 2014 by Anubhab Goel, Gaurav Shrivastava and Amit Kumar, the startup provides various household services ranging from plumbing, pest control, carpentry to deep cleaning, sofa cleaning, among others.
It is likely that with this acquisition, Quikr will look forward to accelerate its growth in household services sector, and Zimmber will take advantage of Quikr’s verticals like QuikrServices, while collectively trying to tap into new markets.
“In addition to the synergies between Zimmber and QuikrServices, we also see a great opportunity in offering our services to users in other Quikr verticals such as QuikrHomes, QuikrC2C and QuikrCars. Together, we will be serving a larger customer base with varied demands to bring more trust and efficiency to hyperlocal services market,” said Amit Kumar, Co-founder, Zimmber.
As part of the overall integration process, Zimmber Co-founder and COO Amit Kumar and Chief Product Officer Siddhartha Srivastava, along with other staff workers, will continue to drive Zimmber growth under Quikr. Also, the startup will continue to serve all of its on-demand service customers. customers.
In October 2016, Quikr received a 13% valuation hike from Swedish Investment Firm, Kinnevi, which shot up its value to $1.47 billion, as compared to a $1.3 billion it had assigned to the company in the previous quarter. Kinnevi owed this to Quikr’s ‘bolt-on acquisitions’ during the quarter that enhanced its strategic positioning and product offering. The company was reportedly valued at about $1.5 billion, at the time of this deal.
This acquisition marks Quikr’s fourth in the home services vertical in the last 12 months. The company had successively acquired home beauty startups Zalosa, Zapluk and Stayglad last year. Last September, it also launched Dazzlr, a talent discovery platform that aims to connect cctors and talent worldwide directly with opportunity providers.
With such rapid acquisitions and service launches, it can be seen that Quikr is trying to up its game and boost sales by diversifying into new businesses. The company currently has its presence in about 1,000 cities in India and operates across several verticals like homes, cars, education, jobs and household services.