Naukri.com owner Info Edge churns its portfolio, sells Canvera to Printo

Info Edge, the company that owns Naukri.com and has backed several start-ups including restaurant listing and delivery app Zomoto, seems to be churning its start-up portfolio. 

After writing off its investments in Canvera Digital Technologies, it has transferred its 70.47 per cent stake in the firm to retail printing chain Printo and invested Rs 200 million in it for a 23.5 per cent stake, the company said in a market disclosure Tuesday. 

Canvera was Info Edge’s third largest start-up investment after Zomato and e-learning firm Meritnation. Info Edge wrote off its entire investment of Rs 1211 million in Canvera in 2017-18 after the founders reportedly left the company.

Interestingly, Info Edge had invested Rs 86 million in Canvera only in September last year.  Info Edge feels Canvera has a good digital model which complements with Printo's strength in offline business. But this is not the only write-offs Info Edge has taken this year.

Info Edge has written-off Rs 720 million in 2017-18 in companies like Mydala, BigStylist and Canvera, it revealed in its annual report. Till date, it has invested Rs 9,648 million (investment value at cost) in 19 start-ups, including Rs 281 million in four new start-ups last year. The value of its active portfolio (at cost) is Rs 7,788 million. It has exited three companies (Studyplaces, Ninety Nine Labs and Nogle Technologies) and mopped up Rs 356 million. Till date, it has made a provision of Rs 1,860 million in write-offs, exits or provisions.  

Last week, Info Edge, posted a 16.6 per cent increase in standalone revenue for the April-June 2018 period. Its operational revenue grew to Rs 2595 million for the first quarter of 2017-18, up from Rs 2225 million a year earlier. It reported a standalone loss of Rs 137 million for the January-March 2018 quarter, as write-offs related to startup investments rose to Rs 703 million from Rs 40 million a year earlier.

The company holds 8.93 per cent stake in insurance distributor PolicyBazaar and co-invested twice — $27.7 million with Temasek that saw it raise $200 million and $45 million with Softbank. 

 

INVESTMENTS: 
 

Zomato, Meritnation, Policybazaar, Canvera, Happilyunmarried, Mydala, Vacationlabs, Bluedolph, Bigstylist, Unnatihelpers, Dirolabs, Zippserv, Wishbooks, Nopaperforms, Univariety, Gramophone