Info Edge acquires Toostep Consultancy's business

Info Edge (India) Ltd, which runs the recruitment site Naukri.com and other classifieds like matrimonial site Jeevansathi.com and real estate portal 99acres.com, has acquired the business of Toostep Consultancy Pvt Ltd, on a slump sale basis. Toostep had developed a software as a service (SaaS) platform that enables recruiters to promote jobs on social networking sites and search engines as well as manage the response received.

As part of the acquisition, the team of Toostep has joined Info Edge. In 2008, Toostep had raised funding from Accel India (then known as Erasmic ventures).

"We expect to benefit from their experience and integrate these features into Naukri over a period of time. Toostep's product will benefit from scaling up of its sales to Naukri's vast client base," said Ambarish Raghuvanshi, director and CFO, Info Edge.

Info Edge's posted 22.3 per cent growth in net revenue for the quarter ended June 30, to Rs 105.9 crore over Q1 of last year and saw standalone net profit rise 24 per cent to Rs 31.78 crore in the same period. However, the year-on-year growth was partly doused by almost flat net revenue in Q1, compared to the fourth quarter ended in March 2012. Sequential net profit also declined 20.3 per cent as flat topline was accompanied by higher expenses and lower 'other income'.

The company had been active on the investment front in the recent times. Late last month, the company invested Rs 12.86 crore ($2.3 million) more in Zomato Media Pvt Ltd that runs Zomato.com (a site providing restaurant reviews, ratings and advertisements), taking its total investment in Zomato to Rs 31.06 crore and its total holding to 48.5 per cent. In the same month, the company also invested Rs 5 crore ($0.9 million) in online private sales portal 99labels.com, taking its total investment in the company to around $4.5 million. Prior to that, the company invested $6.5 million (Rs 35 crore) in Bangalore-based online photography company Canvera Digital Technologies Pvt Ltd.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)