Investcorp is a Bahrain-based Private Equity company that is a provider of investment products and also manages them to serve high-net-worth institutions and private clients. Most recently, the company has announced to acquire Bengaluru-based Unilog for an undisclosed amount.
Unilog is a global technology company, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) start-up that delivers e-commerce solutions to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Having given that introduction, On Thursday, the Private Equity company announced to enter int an agreement to buy 100% stake in Unilog which is headquartered in the United States and Bengaluru. The start-up is aimed to provide wholesalers, manufacturers, distributors to increase their sales, reduce their costs and enhance their digital presence, as mentioned in a report by Financial Express.
The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted the addressable market according to analysts and Gaurav Sharma, Head of Private Equity at Investcorp India says that Unilog presents the private equity company with an attractive opportunity as it already operates in a growing and addressable market which is primarily driven by e-commerce services.
According to the company profile on CrunchBase, Unilog is the first acquisition made by Investcorp in 2021 following a total of five acquisitions made by the Private Equity company last year in 2020, considering the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, Investcorp acquired Fortune Fish and Gourmet in February, followed by Avira in April, then Viz Branz in November and Sanos Clinic in December. The company signed the acquisition deal with Avira for USD 180 million while the rest of the acquisitions were made for an undisclosed amount.
Also, Unilog is the company’s 10th investment in the Indian market over the last four year, according to Financial Express.
Investcorp has previously made investments in the Indian market focussing on financial services, healthcare services, technology and consumer-based services. Digging into company records, Investcorp has previously invested in first-generation start-ups such as Citykart, CRED, Zolo, Bewakoof.com, XpressBees, Intergrow Brands and NephroPlus. The private equity firm has helped these start-ups operating on asset-light models with proven unit economics.
Unilog has an established e-commerce market with a SaaS-based background in a potential-filled ecosystem like India. Investcorp acquired the start-up to expand its operations in the e-commerce market of India which has apparently been boosted by the COVID-19 induced lockdowns in India. People have shifted to e-commerce platforms and with this wave of digitisation that India is going through, the e-commerce segment in India shows phenomenal potential for the future.
Founded back in 1998 by Achutha Bachalli K., Unilog delivers powerful SaaS-based affordable e-commerce solutions to start-ups and Business to Business (B2B) marketplace.
According to a report by Financial Express, Investcorp has also made around 200 Private Equity investments outside India in the United States, Middle East, Europe and North Africa in multiple sectors including cybersecurity, payments, data analytics etc.
