Helpchat, a chat-based personal assistant mobile application, has acquired Mumbai-based start-up Niffler for an undisclosed amount.
Niffler was built as a discovery platform for users to access deals and discounts from local brick-and-mortar stores and recently introduced chat-based interactions between consumers and local businesses. The acquisition is expected to firm Helpchat’s position in the chat-based personal assistant ecosystem in India, and help it launch its services in Pune and Mumbai faster as Niffler already has a presence in these markets.
The entire Niffler team will join Helpchat following the acquisition.
Co-founded by Edul Patel, Prince Arora and Viraj Shah, Niffler was launched in July 2014 with the objective of providing a location-based contextual offers and deals discovery platform for the Indian consumers. It had raised funding worth $1 million in March 2015 from SAIF partners.
Niffler co-founder Edul Patel,said, “We look forward to combining our brand synergies and expertise with theirs and setting new benchmarks in the way consumer-get their daily task done in India.”
Ankur Singla, CEO and Founder, Helpchat said, “We are geared for aggressive pan-India growth in the coming few months. The acquisition of Niffler is one of the first major steps in this direction. Niffler team has expertise on community-driven experiences and retailer supported commerce. They share our vision of enabling consumers to get more done through chat-based personal assistance. Acquisition will also help Helpchat accelerate the growth of its personal assistant engine across the areas of offline commerce and local deals based on user's intent.”
