Naukri parent Info Edge (India) Ltd has invested another Rs 8 crore in Green Leaves Consumer Services Pvt. Ltd, which runs beauty services marketplace BigStylist, show stock-exchange filings by the company.
This is Info Edge's third investment in Mumbai-based BigStylist. It had injected Rs 6 crore into the beauty services provider in September 2016. Prior to that, in November 2015, it had invested $1 million in the company.
After this round, Info Edge will hold 49.37% stake in BigStylist.
BigStylist allows customers to order beauty services at home through its website, Android app and phone call. The startup was founded in July 2015 by IIT Kharagpur alumni Richa Singh, Chinmaya Sharma and Anurag Srivastava. Singh and Sharma have previously worked with Oliver Wyman and Bain & Co., after their MBAs from IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore, respectively. Srivastava is the chief technology officer.
Info Edge has also invested Rs 3.5 crore in Surat-based Wishbook Infoservices Pvt. Ltd, operator of sales catalogue aggregation app Wishbook, the filings show. It picked up 21.88% stake in the company in this round.
Wishbook provides catalogue distribution services to manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to help them access product and sales information. It was founded in April 2016 by Arvind Saraf, who did his engineering from IIT Kanpur. Saraf has previously worked with Google and also founded a social healthcare business.
Info Edge operates a slew of Internet properties apart from Naukri, such as real estate portal 99acres and matrimonial website Jeevansathi. It also runs education services portal Shiksha and restaurant listings platform Zomato.
Besides, it holds stakes in several technology firms, such as food-tech firm Zomato, coupons site Mydala, online insurance policy aggregator PolicyBazaar, e-learning firm Meritnation and online photography startup Canvera Digital Technologies. It was the lead investor in Canvera’s $3 million funding round in September.
Last year, it also invested in contacts management venture Diro Labs and housekeeping services provider Unnati Helpers.
Info Edge’s managing director and chief executive Hitesh Oberoi had recently told VCCircle that the company was on the lookout for the right portfolio fits to power its recruitment business. He also underscored the company’s strategy to step up in-house investments in emerging technologies like machine learning, deep learning and artificial intelligence.
