E-com firm SapnaOnline buys BookAdda, KoolSkool & ACADzone; Zodius, Aarin Capital exit

Bangalore-based Sapna Infoway Pvt Ltd, the company behind the online books and electronics store SapnaOnline, has acquired city-based Ishita Technologies Pvt Ltd and its three brands – BookAdda.com, ACADzone.com, and Koolskool.com -- for an undisclosed sum in an all-cash deal.

Ishita had previously raised funding from VC firms Zodius and Aarin Capital, who had valued it at $13 million two years ago. Both the investors are exiting in the transaction.

The acquisition will help Sapna expand its online retail presence and also foray into new categories.

Post acquisition, all the three brands will be brought under SapnaOnline. As part of the deal, Ishita's two warehouses in Delhi and Bangalore will become part of Sapna.

Launched in 2012 by Nijesh Shah, SapnaOnline is an e-commerce store for books and electronic items. It claims to have a catalogue of over 10 million books, 10,000 electronics and gadgets, and 1,000 audio books. SapnaOnline further claims that it has over 5 lakh daily active users and over a million registered users.

SapnaOnline operates around 11 warehouses in south India.

"We have a strong presence in the southern market, and want to increase our presence in the northern region. With the acquisition, we will be able to cater to the growing book demand in the northern region," said Shah.

Ishita was founded in 2010 by Arjun Kumar, Mahipal Reddy and Hemant Kohli. While BookAdda is focused on the complete range of books with a catalogue of close to 15 million titles, ACADzone focuses on the competitive exam segment.

KoolSkool, which offers books and stationery items focusing on the K12 segment, was acquired by Ishita early this year from Delhigate Educomm Retail Solutions Pvt Ltd in a cash-and-stock deal.

"Sapna is a respected & strong book retail chain. BookAdda, ACADzone & KoolSkool add to its online capability & provide it the platform to grow exponentially into the increasingly digitising education supplies space," said Hemant Kohli, CEO of Ishita.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)