Amazon acquires Perpule to capture India’s kirana-tech market
The story: Global online commerce giant Amazon has acquired Indian retail tech startup Perpule.
The deal details: US$14.7 million in an all-cash deal. An additional US$5 million is expected to be paid to compensate Perpule’s employees.
The objective: With this deal, Amazon plans to capture India’s massive kirana tech (tiny stores in India distributed across every neighbourhood) market.
About Perpule: Founded in 2016, the startup helps small stores go from offline to online.
Its primary product is UltraPoS, a store management service that helps small businesses digitally manage and automate their inventory and purchase orders from distributors and billings.
“Perpule has built an innovative cloud-based POS offering that enables offline stores in India to better manage their inventory, checkout process, and overall customer experience,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Here are the 6 SEA startups vying for IPO in 2021
There are over 12 million kirana stores in India and companies like Jio, Paytm, and more are in a race to capture the market.
Remote consultation app HealthPlix raises US$13.5M
Investors: Lightspeed (lead), JSW Ventures, Kalaari Capital, and Chiratae Ventures.
What the funding will be used for: Expansion of its doctor base, hiring, and product enhancement.
About HealthPlix: Founded in 2014, India-based HealthPlix offers full-stack-services for doctors to deliver smooth remote consultations. Through its app, doctors can maintain patient records and offer remote consults to improve patient outcomes.
It primarily focuses on chronic diseases like endocrinology, diabetology, and cardiology.
The startup claims it serves more than 12 million unique patients in India.
“What sets HealthPlix apart is its doctor-first B2B approach. Doctors are the most influential decision-makers in healthcare. We believe whichever platform wins their trust will have the sole right to orchestrate the entire US$88 billion of healthcare spending,” said Vaibhav Agrawal, Partner at Lightspeed, and a former physician.
Singapore small businesses most resilient through the pandemic: Report
The story: According to CPA Australia’s survey, Singaporean businesses showed the highest resiliency in comparison to their Southeast Asian counterparts.
How the survey was done: The survey polled 4,227 small businesses in 11 Asia Pacific markets, including 307 respondents from Singapore.
More about the story: In the survey, 55 per cent of Singapore’s small businesses said that the pandemic affected them adversely.
This was lower than 67 per cent in Malaysia, 81 per cent in Vietnam, and 68 per cent in Indonesia.
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Image Credit: Christian Wiediger
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