Droom acquires AR startup Visiolab to improve customer experience

Automobile marketplace Droom on Thursday said it has acquired augmented reality solutions provider Visiolab Ideas as part of its plan to launch its own dedicated augmented and virtual reality (AR-VR) lab to enhance the customer experience.

While the buyer did not disclose the deal value, a statement said that both co-founders of the Visiolab will join the Droom team. The team includes CEO Navdeep Singh, and CTO Sahil Singh.

Droom said it will provide a live virtual tour of vehicles to customers who can experience it in 3D, adding that the company in 2019 had allocated Rs 50 crore ($6.8 million as per current exchange rates) towards building new and innovative products using artificial intelligence and AR-VR.

Incorporated in 2018, Gurugram based Visiolab Ideas provides augmented reality-based technology solutions across industries of automobile, education, entertainment, software-as-a-service and retail.

“This acquisition will further enhance our capabilities in offering delightful customer experiences and a completely online vehicle buying experience,” Akshay Singh, chief strategy officer at Droom said.

Watch: Droom founder Sandeep Aggarwal on harnessing AI to deliver B2B, B2C solutions

Droom currently claims to have 80% market share of automobile transactions online and to be the fourth-largest e-commerce company in India in terms of gross merchandise value.

It competes with Cars24, CarDekho, OLX, CarPrice, STCars and OLX, in the segment.

The AI and data science-driven online transactional platform operates via four marketplace formats -- B2C, C2C, C2B, and B2B, and three pricing formats -- fixed price, best offer, and auction. “The platform offers a wide range of categories from bicycle to plane and all automobile services such as warranty, RSA, insurance, and auto loan,” the statement said.

Droom is available in India, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. Its  Orange Book value product, a pricing engine, is available across 38 countries.

The company has so far raised about $125 million over six rounds of funding, from investors such as Lightbox, Beenext, and Toyota Tsusho Corporation.

Last year, it acquired a non-banking financial company (NBFC) Xeraphin Finvest in a  move to strengthen its lending arm, Droom Credit.

In the financial year ended March 2019, Droom had widened its losses over 75% to Rs 128.6 crore, from a year ago. The company’s operational revenue jumped to Rs 136.43 crore from Rs 67.27 in the previous fiscal. It is yet to file FY20 financials.