Info Edge (India) Ltd

History of Info Edge (India) Ltd

Info Edge (India) Limited is one of India's premier internet based business. The Company is primarily in the business of operating multiple internet based services through its various web portals and mobile applications. It currently operates in four service verticals such as, in recruitment solutions through its brands naukri.com, iimjobs.com, hirist.com, ambitionbox.com, bigshyft.com, jobhai.com; in real estate services through its brand 99acres.com; in matrimonial services through its brand jeevansaathi.com and in education services through its brand shiksha.com. It has a network of 113 branch offices located in 80+cities throughout India. It has made forays abroad into the Gulf market with the website www.naukrigulf.com and currently has offices Dubai, Bahrain, Riyadh, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. The core verticals encompass recruitment, real estate, matchmaking and education, with varying levels of maturity stages and established market leadership. As digitisation and advanced technology reshape the landscape, the competition intensifies, necessitating continual strategic evolutions and significant investments. Initially, Company was developed by separate entrepreneurial oriented management teams. Each of these businesses were managed externally with inputs from Info Edge. Essentially, these became a part of an investment portfolio of the company. Some of these investee companies include zomato.com (online restaurant classifieds and food delivery business) and policybaza ...ar.com (online insurance). Info Edge India Limited was incorporated on May 1, 1995 as Info Edge India Pvt Ltd and they went public on April 27, 2006. In March 1997, the internet portal naukri.com was launched and in December 1998, jeevansathi.com was launched. In November 2000, the company acquired the business of Quadrangle division. In September 2004, the company acquired Jeevansathi Internet Services Pvt Ltd and they became the wholly owned subsidiary company. The internet portal 99acres.com was launched on September 15, 2005. In July 2006, the company launched the internet portal naukrigulf.com and in July 2007, they launched the internet portal asknaukri.com. In August 2007, the company entered the domain of professional networking services by launching the internet portal brijj.com and in May 2008, they forayed into the online education by launching the internet portal shiksha.com. During 2010-2011, the company invested in Nogle Technologies Pvt Ltd, Kinobeo Software Pvt Ltd, Ninety Nine Labels Pvt Ltd, Zomato.com etc. During 2011-2012, the company invested in Canvera Digital Technologies Pvt Ltd, Zomato Media Pvt Ltd, Happily Unmarried Marketing Pvt Ltd. The company also acquired the business of Tootstep consultancy private Ltd during the year under review. During 2012-2013, the company acquired Makesence Technologies Pvt Ltd. During the 2014-2015, the company gets RBI nod to raise FII investment limit. The company also made investment in Canvera Digital Technologies Pvt Ltd and also transfered Policybazar shareholding during the year under review. In August 2015, the company made investment in Mint Bird Technologies Private Limited. The website, www.vacationlabs.com, is a web-based booking system for tour operators providing services such as processing bookings, collecting payments, sending confirmation emails, reminder emails, feedback requests, accounting, and more. On 13 October 2015, Info Edge (India) announced that it has transferred its entire shareholding in Etechaces Marketing and Consulting Private Limited (Etechaces or Policybazaar to its wholly owned subsidiary MakeSense Technologies Limited (Makesense) for a total consideration of about Rs 101.30 crore. Makesense has entered into a definitive agreement with MacRitchie Investments Pte. Ltd. (MacRitchie), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek, an investment company based in Singapore, enabling MacRitchie to subscribe to the shares of Makesense to extent of 49.99% of its share capital (on a fully converted and diluted basis) for a total consideration of about Rs 134.10 crore. Out of the above funds, Makesense will invest an amount of about Rs 31.10 crore in Policybazaar and this is part of the fund raising undertaken by Policybazaar in March 2015, wherein funding from Makesense was subject to approval from FIPB. Funds aggregating to about Rs 101.30 crore would be used by Makesense to retire its payable to Info Edge (India). Consequent to the aforesaid transaction, Info Edge (India) will own 50.01% of MakeSense and Makesense will hold about 19.65% of Policybazaar. On 30 January 2016, Info Edge (India) announced that the company has, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, invested an additional amount of Rs 5 crore through optionally convertible cumulative redeemable preference shares in Happily Unmarried Marketing Private Limited, which is engaged in the business of sale of fun & creative products. It owns and operates the site www.happilyunmarried.com. Accordingly, the aggregate investment, including the above, is now Rs16.4 crore in Happily Unmarried Private Limited which translates to about 44% stake in the company on a fully converted and diluted basis. On 22 November 2017, Info Edge (India) announced that pursuant to the acquisition of Cathero Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Runnr), an on-demand logistics and delivery company and other restructuring by Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd., Info Edge (India) along with its wholly owned subsidiary holds about 44.74% in Zomato on fully converted and diluted basis. On 19 December 2017, Info Edge (India) announced that the company has invested through its wholly owned subsidiary about Rs 12.50 crore in International Educational Gateway Private Ltd. (Univariety). The aggregate shareholding of the company, post this initial investment, in the said entity would be 29.62% on fully converted and diluted basis. Univariety is engaged in the educational business of providing products and services and counseling to students, schools, colleges and educators. The Board of Directors of Info Edge (India) at its meeting held on 1 February 2018 accorded its approval to allow divestment of 32,629 equity shares of Zomato Media Private Ltd. (Zomato), being 6.66% of the paid-up share capital of Zomato on fully converted and diluted basis, either directly or through its wholly owned subsidiary - Naukri Internet Services (NISL), as may be deemed fit in the best interests of the company, at a consideration of rupee equivalent of USD 50 million. On 1 March 2018, Info Edge (India) announced that the company has invested through its wholly owned subsidiary about Rs 6.40 crore in Agstack Technologies Private Limited. (Gramophone). The aggregating shareholding of the company, post this initial investment, in the said entity would be 25% on fully converted and diluted basis. Gramophone is a technology enabled marketplace for enabling efficient farm management. Info Edge (India) crossed the total income figure of Rs 1000 crore for the first time in Financial Year 2017-2018..On 19 April 2018, Info Edge (India) announced that the company has invested through its wholly-owned subsidiary about Rs 3 crore in Bizcrum lnfotech Private Ltd. (ShoeKonnect). The aggregate shareholding of the company, post this initial investment, in the said entity would be 20% on fully converted and diluted basis. ShoeKonnect is a B2B marketplace that enables footwear brands, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to connect, communicate and transact with each other for conducting and expanding their business. On 3 May 2018, Info Edge (India) announced that the company has invested through its wholly-owned subsidiary about Rs 3.43 crore in Rare Media Company Private Ltd. It is a follow up round of investment in Rare Media which is already an associate of the company. The aggregate shareholding of the company, post this investment, in the said entity would be 43.86% on fully converted and diluted basis. Rare Media is engaged in building the future of work using pioneering technology. On 25 June 2018, Info Edge (India) announced that subject to requisite regulatory and other approvals, as may be applicable, including that of Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal (FIFP), the company has entered into an agreement with SVF India Holdings (Cayman) Limited (Soft Bank), a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Vision Fund L.P., of which SoftBank Group Corp. is a limited partner, whereby Soft Bank has agreed to invest an amount equivalent to about USD 45 million for 49.99% stake (on a fully diluted basis) in Diphda Internet Services Ltd. (Diphda), a wholly owned-subsidiary of the company, for the time being. Info Edge (India) has also agreed to invest an amount equivalent to about USD 45 million in Diphda for 50.01% stake (on a fully diluted basis) and to jointly invest through Diphda, an amount equivalent to about USD 90 million in Etechaces Marketing & Consulting Pvt. Ltd. (Etechaces) for 8.93% stake (on a fully diluted basis post completion of fund raise exercise with other investors). On 5 July 2018, Info Edge (India) announced that the company has agreed to jointly invest with MacRitchie Investments Pte. Ltd. (MacRitchie), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek, an amount of about Rs190.51 crore in Etechaces Marketing & Consulting Pvt. Ltd. (Etechaces) for 3.5% stake (subject to change consequent to completion of primary investment in Etechaces announced by the company on 25 June 2018) by purchasing the shares held by PI Opportunities Fund I (PIOF) through its subsidiary, MakeSense Technologies Ltd. Consequent to the aforesaid transaction, Info Edge (India) will own 50.01% of MakeSense and MakeSense will hold about 19.92% (including existing stake of 16.42%) of Etechaces on fully converted & diluted basis. On 6 July 2018, Info Edge (India) announced that the company has invested through its wholly-owned subsidiary about Rs 3 crore in Ideacficks Infolabs Private Limited (Zippserv). The aggregate shareholding of the company, post this initial investment, in the said entity would be 45.31% (subject to change pursuant to milestones agreed in the relevant Investment Agreement) on fully converted & diluted basis. Zippserv (www.zerv.corn) is an online platform which provides data-driven real estate intelligence to enable smart property purchase. The company's two flagship products are 'CleanProperties' and 'PricePoint'. CleanProperties provides instant access to land titles, conversion records, building approvals, liens and litigations for thousands of ongoing apartment projects. PricePoint's analytics engine tracks lakhs of recently registered sale transactions and gives granular actionable insights for buyers at a project level so that buyers get a leg up in negotiations. In May 2019, the Company acquired share capital of iimjobs for an all-cash deal of Rs. 808 million. During FY 2019-20, Company acquired Highorbit Careers Private Limited on May 27, 2019. It launched Category II SEBI-approved Alternate Investment Fund, called the Info Edge Venture Fund. Since its launch, it has made 7 investments in Qyuki, Dotpe, Fanclash, Truemeds, Ruskmedia, Bulbul and Firsthive. In June 2021, Company acquired Bengaluru-based, Zwayam Digital Private Limited. In July 2021, It acquired Axilly Labs Private Limited (Doselect). It has made strategic investment in related and adjacent business in Terralytics Analysis Pvt. Ltd. and 4B Networks Pvt. Ltd. During the year 2022, the Board of Directors of the Company, in its meeting held on November 10, 2020, had approved the Scheme of Amalgamation between the Company (Transferee Company) and Highorbit Careers Private Limited (Transferor Company', the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Transferee Company with the appointed date being April 1, 2020. The Scheme was sanctioned by the Hon'ble NCLT vide its Order dated March 8, 2022 on which date, the Transferor Company stood dissolved. During 2022, the Company through its wholly owned subsidiary, Allcheckdeals India Pvt. Ltd., acquired 62.52% stake in 4B Network Private Limited. It acquired 79.62% of Aisle Network Private Limited in Mar' 22. During the year 2022-23, the Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Startup Investments (Holding) Ltd. (SIHL) had acquired, 2,356 shares of Sunrise and consequently Sunrise became subsidiary of the Company. The Company acquired shares of Sploot Pvt. Ltd. and Sploot became an associate of the Company. The Company during FY23 had added second scheme, IE Venture Fund Follow-on I (IEVF Follow-on Fund) to the IEVF and floated other two AIFs namely, Info Edge Capital (IEC) and Capital 2B (C2B). The Company launched MyKindaNaukri brand that highlights and reflects changing workplace and jobseeker needs. A solution was launched to help resale and rental brokers connect with owners for their supply needs. In 2023-24, Company made notable progress in technological advancements by adopting new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models to enhance user experience. The transition of Jeevansathi business to a Freemium model was a significant change in business with strategic approach to market demands. In addition to Naukri, Company has several strategic ventures, including alternate recruitment marketplaces such as iimjobs, Hirist, and NaukriGulf. Similarly, their property portal, 99acres, spans four verticals: Primary, Secondary Sales, Rental Properties, and Commercial Real Estate. As part of the secondary premiumisation strategy, the infinity (video) listing product was launched in December 2023. This witnessed a decent initial market offtake. The Company launched d Naukri Minis that gives bite-sized, trending content tailored for job seekers and recruiters in FY25. Info Edge's Naukri ecosystem has transformed from a traditional job search platform into a comprehensive talent partner. It now offer solutions across sourcing, premium hiring, assessment, employer branding, talent engagement and end-to-end recruitment automation with platforms like iimjobs, Hirist, AmbitionBox, etc. Company also entered the blue and grey-collar hiring segment with JobHai. By leveraging AI, Naukri enhances candidate-job matching and equips employers with smart hiring tools during the year 2025.