Amazon Technologies Inc., part of Amazon.com Inc., has acquired retail tech startup Perpule in an all cash-deal of ₹107.6 crore to bolster its play in the kirana-tech space, according to regulatory filings.
Amazon is expected to pay additional remuneration to Bengaluru-based Perpule’s employees, which may bump up the overall deal value to about ₹150 crore, according to two individuals aware of the discussions.
With this, the firm plans to up its game in the kirana-tech space as it would now leverage Perpule’s cloud-based point-of-sale (PoS) offering ‘UltraPoS’ and offer a new suite of technology products to kirana partners, while digitizing neighbourhood stores.
The acquisition is expected to provide Perpule’s investors an exit with 4x-5x returns. The four-year old startup has raised close to $4.7 million till date from Prime Venture Partners, Kalaari Capital, Venture Highway and Taxiforsure co-founder Raghunandan G.
Most of its staff including co-founders Abhinav Pathak, Saketh BSV and Yogesh Ghaturle are expected to join Amazon, said one of the people mentioned above.
UltraPoS, which is Perpule’s primary product is a full-fledged store management solution that helps small businesses digitally manage and automate inventory, purchase orders from distributors, and billings.
An Amazon India spokesperson confirming the acquisition, said Perpule’s cloud POS will help offline stores of all sizes manage their operations better. “Perpule has built an innovative cloud-based POS offering that enables offline stores in India to better manage their inventory, checkout processes, and overall customer experience. We are excited to have the Perpule team join us to focus on providing growth opportunities for businesses of all sizes in India while raising the bar of the shopping experience for Indian customers,” said the spokesperson.
Last year, Amazon launched ‘Smart Stores’ to help offline retailers digitize their inventory, while allowing them to launch digital store fronts on its app.
It has scaled its ‘Local Shops’ programme to 50,000 offline retailers in March and plans to double that by year-end. The acquisition of Perpule may also help Amazon digitize in-store inventory of offline retailers and list them on the Amazon app.
Perpule’s UltraPoS, which had close to 10,000 store and retail partners across India, South-east Asia and the UAE as of last year, also provides core analytics for retailers to help them understand customer demographics and purchase patterns at outlets. Close to 60% of the product’s customer base are international clients including Matahari Retail in Indonesia and Landmark Group in Malaysia.
