India's Online Classified Player Quikr Makes its 9th Acquisition with Grabhouse The company in on an expansion drives and is set to take advantage of low prices of startups.
By Aashika Jain
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The Tiger Global-backed online classifieds player Quikr has made its latest acquisition with an all-stock deal to acquire online home rentals startup Grabhouse.
Quikr expects to benefit from unique competitive advantages as the Grabhouse target market has a great match with many of our other businesses such as C2C and bikes.
"On the cost side, the operational costs of the business will directly get shared with our services business," said the company's chief operating officer Atul Tewari.
Quikr chief executive Pranay Chulet said listings on flats for rent on QuikrHome and its subsidiary Commonfloor will be made available on GrabHouse, which will continue to function independently.
The Prateek Shukla and Pankhuri Shrivastava-founded company is backed by funds including India Quotient, Sequoia Capital and Kalaari Capital. With the acquisition of Grabhouse, Quikr will now get these three investors on board.
Grabhouse, which has been looking for a prospective sale of the business since last year, laid off scores of employees at its Bengaluru headquarters in a restructuring drive. The company operates in 11 cities including the four metros.
Quikr has been fast expanding with keen interest in many verticals. Now the company in on an expansion drives and is set to take advantage of low prices of startups that are struggling in a funding-scare startup space.
The company acquired online jobs portal Hiree to complement its jobs segment and Stepni.com to cater to its logistics wing. Among Quikr's other acquisitions in a year have been Stayglad, ZapLuk and Salosa, all of which have been in the beauty segment,
With Grabhouse, Quikr has further strengthened its QuikrHome vertical which was being complemented by the company's acquisition of CommonFloor.
In 2015, Quikr's focus on realty was exhibited by its acquisitions of Indian Realty Exchange and Realty Compass.
