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Tag: Quikr

  • Quikr acquires beauty services start-up Salosa

    Quikr acquires beauty services start-up Salosa

    MUMBAI :   Quikr has acquired Salosa, an on demand in-home beauty services provider, which has been a partner to QuikrServices.  This strategic acquisition is a part of Quikr’s plan to invest Rs.250 crore in its home services vertical, QuikrServices. 

    Founded by Ex- P&G professionals, Piyush Dhanuka and Anurag Nair, Salosa was launched in September 2015, serving customers in Gurgaon and parts of Delhi. Salosa began first as a marketplace for freelance beauticians and stylists before shifting to a full stack model with an in-house team.

    Talking about this acquisition, QuikrServices head PD Sundar  said, “Beauty services market is close to $5 billion in India and is growing which is evident from the increasing number of requests we see from Tier-I and Tier-II cities on our platform. On-demand beauty services is an important sub-category and Salosa will help bring very real benefits to our consumers who get easier access to reliable beauty experts.”

    “Quikr is amongst the top consumer internet leaders in India today along with being a major player in the services space. We share a similar vision with Quikr and look forward to combining our experience in the beauty domain with Quikr’s scale and strategy to become the best beauty services brand across the country,” said  Salosa co founder Anurag Nair.

    QuikrServices has been aggressively going deeper in the home services space to provide consumers a richer experience with reliable professionals. Due to the strength of the Quikr brand, the platform has been witnessing a consistent increase in average spend from its consumers over the last 6 months and is seeing a repeat rate of over 60%. QuikrServices has 250,000 service providers offering over 80 types of services for consumers and is being used by 1,00,000 customers every day.

  • OML launches talent search for India’s next comedy star

    OML launches talent search for India’s next comedy star

    MUMBAI: The search for the next big guns of comedy on YouTube in India has begun, with OML announcing the first ever web hunt for the kings and queens of comedy through ‘The Comedy Hunt on YouTube.’

     

    Presented by Quikr, powered by Micromax, and co-sponsored by 5 Star, Garnier Men and Royal Challenge Sports Drink, the three-month-long contest began on 6 July, 2015. Over the next three weeks ending on 26 July, anyone interested in cutting their teeth as Indian’s next top online comedian can apply by creating a funny video, uploading it to their own YouTube channel, and then submitting the video URL at www.youtube.com/thecomedyhunt.

     

    ‘The Comedy Hunt’ will be a digital search for budding talent, which is backed by popular comedians on YouTube in India. Comic stars such as All India Bakchod, Kanan Gill, Jose, SnG Comedy, East India Comedy, Abish Mathew, Aditi Mittal and Shudh Desi Endings will shortlist top participants and work with them to help sharpen their skills before they’re put through seven weeks of challenge rounds.

     

    These YouTube creators will also act as judges and pick the top finalists from these challenge rounds. The top five finalists will then be on stage and display their videos live alongside the mentors in front of an audience.

     

    OML director Ajay Nair said, “There is huge appetite among younger audiences to consume content that’s not formulaic and that has been traditionally served by television. This initiative is a platform to find and reward creators across various comedic forms- not just stand-up or sketches. It’s an exciting time to create humorous content and with this hunt, we want to accelerate that process”

     

    “YouTube has always worked with fresh and innovative comedy talent, and creators like AIB and TVF are helping make comedy one of the fastest growing content verticals on the platform today. We are sponsoring this first of its kind initiative , which will help us continue to support new comedians across the country as they build their brands as entertainers and find global audiences for their talents through YouTube,” added YouTube Partnerships, Asia-Pacific regional director Ajay Vidyasagar.

     

    AIB’s Ashish Shakya said, “We’re kicked to be a part of the ‘Comedy Hunt’. It’s an exciting time to be a digital content creator in India and we’re happy to help in pushing new comic talent centre stage. Also, people are tired of seeing our ugly faces and the scene could always use new blood.”

     

    Quikr founder and CEO Pranay Chulet informed, “We are delighted to sponsor the first ever ‘Comedy Hunt on YouTube.’ Quikr is a young Indian company and it is a natural fit for us to encourage the next generation of talent in India. Comedy is one of India’s fastest developing entertainment genres in India and at Quikr, we love the kind of dynamic, fast paced experience it offers. We wish all the participants the best of luck.”

     

    Micromax CMO Shubhajit Sen opined, “Micromax is a young brand, never content with the world as we find it – always wanting to improve it with innovative, disruptive solutions. We hope to see the same irreverent, disruptive and insightful wit from the young and talented participants. Micromax is proud to power the laughter at the inaugural ‘Comedy Hunt’ on YouTube.”

  • Quikr gets a new CMO in Vineet Sehgal

    Quikr gets a new CMO in Vineet Sehgal

    MUMBAI: After receiving Rs 365 crore funding earlier this month, the online classified company Quikr announced the appointment of Vineet Sehgal as the company’s chief marketing officer. He will be responsible for marketing strategy and plan across all areas including brand building, performance marketing, partnership and alliances at the portal.

     

    Quikr founder and CEO Pranay Chulet said, “We are delighted to welcome Vineet to Quikr. Quikr is made in India and for India, and Vineet has built his career scaling consumer businesses in the country so there was natural chemistry here.”

     

    “Vineet also knows the Indian consumer and he knows the Indian consumer on mobile. His arrival was particularly well timed with our own plans, as the fun is just beginning,” he added.

     

    Beginning his career in consumer marketing with Nestle, Sehgal headed Nokia’s programs and planning portfolio before joining Quikr. He also founded the Nokia Money start up team and drove its growth from conception to market roll out and held large scale launches of some of the most used mobile devices in India.

     

    With more than 18 years in marketing and business strategy, Sehgal has worked across diverse industries such as telecommunication, FMCG, banking and management consulting. He has been associated with brands including Nokia, Nestle, Accenture, Cadburys and HSBC.

     

    Sehgal said, “It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to join Quikr which is writing such an interesting chapter of the Indian internet story.  Quikr’s business is growing exponentially and its super exciting for me to be a part of this growth curve. I look forward to further building the company as the Indian internet becomes more and more synonymous with mobile internet.”

     

    Quikr records 30 million users a month across 940 cities in India and so far has received funding of around Rs 1,300 crore since its inception in 2008.

  • Quikr raises Rs 365 crore for future expansion

    Quikr raises Rs 365 crore for future expansion

    Mumbai: Valued at around Rs 1800 crore, the online classifieds platform, Quikr has raised Rs 365 crore in the latest round of funding. The investment was led by new investor Tiger Global Management, a global investment firm, with participation from its current investors.

     

    The company, which has so far received funding of around Rs 1,300 crore since its inception in 2008, will use the funds towards product development and further expansion of its mobile business, Quikr said in a statement.

     

    Commenting on the latest funding, Quicker founder and CEO Pranay Chulet said, “The explosive growth in mobile Internet is fundamentally reshaping the Indian classified Internet market, and we are well positioned to be at the forefront of this growth.”

     

    “This funding round is a powerful validation of our local knowledge and connections, skilled execution and quality management team. We are excited to welcome Tiger Global to Quikr as we continue to further grow our platform,” he added.

     

    The Mumbai-based company’s current investors include Kinnevik, Matrix Partners India, Nokia Growth Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Omidyar Network, Warburg Pincus and eBay Inc.

     

    In the previous round of funding held in March, Quikr was valued at about Rs 1,525 crore. At that time, the company had raised Rs 550 crore in an investment round led by Swedish investment firm Investment Kinnevik.

     

    Talking about the new investment, Tiger Global Management partner Lee Fixel said, “Quikr has grown rapidly to become one of India’s major classifieds players with a deep understanding of the local market. By leveraging the company’s strengths as a local player, Quikr has seized a tremendous opportunity in a rapidly growing market. We look forward to supporting the Quikr team.”

     

    Quikr records 30 million users a month across 940 cities in India. These consumers come to Quikr to sell, buy, rent or find products and services in a variety of categories including mobile phones, household goods, cars, real estate, jobs, services and education.

  • Gozoop wins digital and social media mandate for e-commerce portal Dhamaal.com

    Gozoop wins digital and social media mandate for e-commerce portal Dhamaal.com

    MUMBAI: Gozoop, which recently acquired Red Digital, won the social media mandate for the e-commerce portal, dhamaal.com. The objective of the whole campaign is to drive traffic to their website and make it the best shopping portal in India.

    The activity will be carried out in two phases. The first phase will create awareness of the portal and make customers comfortable with the platform, while in the second phase dhamaal.com will move on to promote their categories of product and gratify the fans by holding exciting contests.

    Commenting on this, Gozoop managing director (India) and co-founder Ahmed Naqvi said, “GoZoop is excited to make things happen for Dhamaal. We look forward to run awesome campaigns and deliver results that help build lasting relationships between Dhamaal and its customers. It’s all about making people happy, the results will follow.”

    He further added, “The initial feedback has been quite overwhelming. Having worked with most of the e-commerce companies in India, we bring to the table an experience and expertise that will deliver a wow.”

    “Gozoop was our first choice the minute we decided to go for a social media campaign as we had worked with them in the past and were very happy and satisfied with their level of service and professionalism. We are sure that with Gozoop’s association, our brand and website Dhamaal.com will get the necessary exposure it needs and will become a success in a very short time,” said Dhamaal.com CEO Hanif Sama.

    Dhamaal.com is an online market place selling products ranging from apparels, watches, mobiles and electronics to home and lifestyle items like washing machines and televisions. Since its inception Gozoop has worked with e-commerce portals like Snapdeal, FashionandYou, Quikr, Groupon, Majorbrands, Deals&You, Pepperyfry and Rocket Internet Startups among many others.

  • ESS ropes in 10 sponsors for Ind-NZ series

    ESS ropes in 10 sponsors for Ind-NZ series

    MUMBAI: Sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports has roped in 10 sponsors for the India-New Zealand that kicks-off Thursday in Hyderabad.

    Tata DoCoMo and Havells are co-presenting sponsors while Maruti Suzuki, Nokia, McDonalds, Asian Paints, Quikr, IBM, Samsung, and ACC have come in associate sponsors.

    Kent RO Systems and Venus Home Appliances complete the roster, sponsoring ESS’ wraparound cricket show.

    The bi-lateral series comprising two Tests and two Twenty20 matches will mark the beginning of a hectic home season for the Men in Blue which will stretch all the way till 2013 beginning November when England visit for a full-fledged series followed by Pakistan and Australia.

    The series will also be the first one after the BCCI terminated its broadcast rights agreement with Nimbus. The rights were eventually won by Star India for a whopping Rs 38.51 billion till 2018.