Where Colors Collide With Music

The Holi celebration at Infibeam started quite earlier than the actual date. Infibeam - where it is all about shopping with a smile - spread some smiles across its employees in a rhythm loaded Holi on 10th March in it’s Ahmedabad branch. What is even worth mentioning is - Infibeam in collaboration with My FM 94.3 and Rustic Colors came together to deliver an evening of music, masti and food.

As the dusk approached, the floors started emptying - as they all joined the celebration where the stage was already set - or being set up. The members of the band Rustic Colors - which is a rock band with experimental rock, punk and alternative - tuned up some great tunes of oldies music. With Keval Limbad on Acoustics, Deval Kshatriya on Electric, Ankit Patel doing the vocals and that amazing lad on the keyboards - set the mood on for some amazing music.

The platform also turned out to be a kind of spotlight to our very own singers from Infibeam. As RJ Vishal called out some names from the crowd - the cheering already started. Who knew our people too had such amazing talent in them? The sweetest gesture was from RJ Vishal himself, who handed out some free passes for the Holi Celebration at The Orion Lawn in Ahmedabad on 13th March. There were couple passes and group passes for everyone.

The continuous cheering went a step further as everyone started singing with the band itself. From Gulaabi Aankhen of Atif Aslam, to Kabhi Jo Badal Barse of Arijit - it was all there. The evening was slowly coming to an end with some delicious snacks for everyone out there. These glorious moments were well captured in the camera - which will bring a smile that is to be remembered.

The Story of Happy Feet – #SolesforSouls

It was 8:30 in the morning and everyone crowded the office premises for the special cause of 'Giving'. Way too early for the Infibeamers to rise up and mark their presence in the office. But with the huge event approaching near, hardly was anyone able to control their ardour. After all, it was 8th March - 'International Women's Day'. The day for Infibeamers, to execute all the plans that were thought of and meticulously drafted about weeks ago, to celebrate Women's Day. The fervour was at its pinnacle and everyone vowed to make this day a big success by bringing smiles across the face of every woman labourer and her family, fighting for their survival.

Carrying the bags thronged with clothes, footwears, fruits and biscuits to be distributed among the needy ones, our team made their way on the roads, some in their cars and others on their two wheelers. With all the excitement and zeal, they headed towards the IIM road, which was followed by Manav Mandir, Shyamal, S.G.Highway, and Ghatlodia. On reaching each destination, they approached the women, busy in their chores, Men, working around and the kids, playing on the footpath and gifted them the little things specially bought for them. The unexpected surprises covered the faces of women and kids with the smiles and mellifluent laughter, which will never be forgotten by our team. The mere view of it was soothing enough to melt your heart.

'The day was not just ordinary day anymore, after we distributed the things. It was both a happy experience, thinking I was doing a good work and a disturbing one, seeing the poor condition in which they lived. And I feel extremely proud to be a part of Infibeam', said one of the employees of Infibeam-Ahmedabad. As the famous notion goes – 'If you light a lamp for someone else, it will also brighten your path.' The same was experienced by our whole team on 8th March. Because after all, the joy of giving is much more greater than the joy of receiving.

Women’s Day Initiative - ‘Soles for Souls’

Celebrations are twin-faced swords. Be it western or Indian. It simply depends on the way we take them. These days can become the sunbeams guiding the ones those dire straits. This Initiative from Infibeam exactly does the same. Infibeam, the e-commerce giant has carved a niche with remarkable social initiatives along with its strive towards fulfilling its motto - “Shop with a Smile!”. On this women’s day, Infibeam has come up with another exciting initiative to applaud the strength of being women.

Can there be a more positive way of spreading a smile than celebrating a day with the downtrodden and the ones who are fighting everyday for survival? Infibeam in this Robinhood-inesque effort named “Soles For Souls” collected soles (all types of footwear) from its pro-active staff to distribute amongst the ones who have none. The females who are generally fond of footwear definitely have extra pairs with them. More often, the extra pairs which they do not actually need. And, Infibeam employees came out in large numbers with a cheerful intent to donate their extra pairs (be it shoes, slippers or any other type of useful footwear) to their counterparts working as labourers. The ones battling out bare-foot in scorching heat for their survival.

“Women’s day time and again gets highlighted for the valour of the women in Lime-light. The women achieving innumerable accolades for their contributions in various fields. But what about the ones who put in equal efforts for their survival? Let’s make this women’s day an opportunity to appreciate these un-noticed efforts. And give back something to the society!” - is the heroic response the Infibeamers’ gave!

Infibeam Incorporation Limited Acquires DRC Systems India Pvt Limited

Ahmedabad, 3rd March 2017: Infibeam Incorporation Limited (BSE/NSE) one of the leading Global E-commerce solutions provider company today announced that it has signed MOU to acquire DRC Systems Pvt Ltd through its wholly owned subsidiary NSI Infinium Global Pvt Ltd. DRC Systems provides Cloud Enterprise ERP solutions and develops customized software for e-commerce applications. Infibeam has been engaging their services to provide customized BuildaBazaar solutions to their merchants in domestic and international market.

BuildaBazaar, a distributed market place platform of Infibeam is used by more than 66k merchants as on quarter ended December 2016. Serving regular needs of merchants in customizing e-commerce applications, DRC Systems has been serving BuildaBazaar customisation for some of the key merchants of Infibeam.

Through this acquisition, Infibeam and DRC Systems will be able to jointly serve an ever growing needs of customers in customizing their e-commerce platforms. Such needs are growing further with Infibeam’s foray into global markets under tie ups with Sears USA, Saudi Telecom for MENA region and its fully owned subsidiary in Middle East region. Infibeam has also tied up with ILF&S Infrastructure, Government of Sikkim for powering digital enterprise of Public Sector Enterprises.

Software developers are an integral part of team Infibeam. Under the acquisition of DRC Systems, the software team will grow by an additional 200 developers and technology professionals. With a combined team, Infibeam will be able to deliver an ever growing base of merchants in delivering e-commerce solutions. In Q3’17, Infibeam merchant base increased by 17,385 compared to last year Q3’ 16, which is 36 % growth.

DRC System is a profitable entity with revenue in excess of 10 crores as on Feb 28, 2017. Infibeam expects to grow the revenue and profits of DRC Systems under an integrated value added services offering.

Infibeam has recently signed an MOU to invest and merge FinTech Company, CC Avenues for offering payment aggregation and integration services to their merchants. CC Avenue is a profitable company with transaction processing volume of more than 15,000 crores and serving more than 100,000 merchants for their payment solutions to merchants.

Infibeam has significantly strengthened its value added services and further the association will open expanded business opportunities with the most extensive client offering in the industry.

Since listing Infibeam has delivered significant return to the shareholders and the acquisition is expected to create value both in near and long-term. Infibeam under its unique business model, is a profit making company. As on Q3, FY17 ended its revenue grew by 14% to Rs 1,027 Mn and EBIDTA by 348 % to Rs 212 with market capitalization of more than $ 1 billion, which has also grown by 215% since listing at $ 348 million in April 2016. Market cap as on 04.04.16 was Rs. 2366 cr and as on 01.03.17 is Rs. 7461.47 cr.

Media Contact:

Corporate Communication Infibeam Incorporation Limited

Shekhar Singh

9825060991

What drives the flight of Infibeam? Find out!

India’s e-commerce story is a familiar one—cash burn, negative unit economics and a pipe dream called profitability, all in the name of customer acquisition. But Ahmedabad-based Infibeam Incorporation Ltd, the country’s first online retailer to go public, has scripted a growth story that flies in the face of the prodigal ways of other, heavily-funded e-commerce players.

It not only continues to be profitable quarter-on-quarter, but also believes that expanding margins, particularly from its business-to-business (B2B) enterprise platform, will help it sustain the growth momentum. However, if you thought the B2B strategy was all there was to the Infibeam story, you have another think coming. The company is treading a carefully-charted growth path, winning projects, striking new collaborations with government and private partners alike, and stitching value-accretive deals.

CCAvenue: Gateway to growth 

Earlier this month, Infibeam entered into a pact to merge CCAvenue with itself in a deal that is expected to value the payment gateway firm at Rs 2,000 crore ($298 million then). The e-commerce company, which already owns 3.85% in Avenues India Pvt. Ltd-run CCAvenue through subsidiary NSI Infinium Global, will acquire another 7.5% stake in it by investing Rs 150 crore, according to stock exchange filings.

Experts feel CCAvenue will be heavily accretive to Infibeam, which also reflects in the company’s stock price rise and the subsequent hike in its market cap. On February 28, the company had a market capitalisation of Rs 7,419 crore compared with Rs 5,035 crore on November 16, 2016.

CCAvenue, one of the largest payment aggregators in India, provides a platform to over a lakh merchants to collect payments online. It also has tie-ups with close to 50 banks. CCAvenue also intends to engage with Bharat Bill Payment Systems (BBPS), which will let it offer payment facilities for utilities and other services in the Indian market.

Mayank Babla, research analyst at KRChoksey Shares and Securities Pvt. Ltd, says CCAvenue’s merger is expected to add incremental revenues of Rs 200 crore to the top line and Rs 40-50 crore to net profit following the amalgamation. In a research note earlier this month, Babla said he expected the CCAvenue merger to boost revenue growth, since the payment aggregator has grown at a CAGR of 45-50% per annum between FY14 and FY16.

“[The] merger with CCAvenue will not only add ‘transaction fees’ charged by payment aggregators for B2B and B2C services, but also the potential revenues from Bharat Bill Payment Systems or BBPS operations. We believe that launch of BBPS is a huge trigger for CCAvenue’ revenue growth as the government of India plans to shift 70% of Rs 6,22,300 crore in utilities payments to the online payment system,” Babla said, who has an ‘accumulate’ rating on the stock and a target price of Rs 1,461.

On Tuesday, Infibeam’s shares were trading at Rs 1398.95, down 0.16%, on the BSE in afternoon trade. The stock has more than tripled since its listing in April 2016. It had ended at Rs 445.55 on the listing day, up about 3% from the issue price of Rs 432.

Clients & collaborations 

Infibeam is fast acquiring clients both domestically and globally. In December, it agreed to provide online e-commerce platform services, including advanced machine-learning algorithms for enabling automated products classification, to Sears Holdings Management Corp, an American firm that owns retail store brands like Sears and Kmart, among others.

Infibeam will also provide the government of Sikkim a unique and verified digital identity platform with authorised and secured digital wallets for people. The company will also develop a dedicated tourism portal for the state.

The company has also entered into an MoU with IL&FS Township & Urban Assets Ltd for implementing projects in the digital and e-commerce space for the central government, state governments and private partners. It will set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in Gandhinagar to provide its technology and office premises for expanding and implementing digital projects.

The SPV will offer a revenue opportunity of Rs 1,250 crore over a period of five years, starting FY17, Infibeam’s founder and chief executive Vishal Mehta told News Corp VCCircle.

“We are getting into global markets, we have the appetite to work with the government and we have signed clients in the Middle East and the US. All this will show positive results from the next two quarters,” he added.

Service revenue, profits on upswing

Infibeam categorises income from the B2B business under service revenue, which is on an upswing. For the quarter ended December 2016, it grew 49% to Rs 40.2 crore, compared with Rs 27 crore a year ago.

“We are investing in last-mile logistics. There is demand for supply. Service revenues used to be 15% of the overall revenue earlier, but now they are 40%. It’s a high-EBITDA margin business. As our service revenues goes up, profit also goes up with it,” Mehta said.

For the third quarter of FY17, Infibeam’s total revenue grew 14% to Rs 102.7 crore, compared with Rs 90.1 crore in the same period a year ago. EBITDA grew 348% to Rs 21.2 crore, compared with Rs 4.7 crore a year ago while profit after tax rose a whopping 2,411% to Rs 12.8 crore compared to Rs 50 lakh in Q3FY16.

Revenue from the e-commerce vertical slipped 1% to Rs 62.5 crore during the quarter, and the company attributed it to the “withdrawal of cash on delivery services”, saying business has picked up since then.

Mehta said the growth witnessed in the service business segment will continue on the back of new alliances. “In e-commerce, there are three potential obstacles: building capacity, supply and demand, and we solve all of them. We are a one-stop solution provider in the e-commerce segment offering purchases to payments solutions under one roof, and that puts us in a strong position,” he said, referring to Infibeam’s unique business model.

Unlike other e-commerce firms that focus mainly on business-to-consumer (B2C) offerings, Infibeam is heavily focused on B2B. Apart from its flagship marketplace portal infibeam.com, the company has an enterprise platform called BuildaBazaar.com, which is growing sustainably quarter on quarter. BuildaBazaar.com provides small, medium and large merchants a commerce platform to help them start online stores under their own domain names. The cloud-based, do-it-yourself platform integrates operation support services like payment gateway, logistics, order management, marketing and search engine optimisation and catalogue management, among others.

Merchants, including SMEs and MSMEs, are increasingly going online and that’s helping the firm. The number of merchants on Infibeam’s BuildaBazaar platform rose to over 66,000 in the quarter ended December 2016, up 36% from the previous year.

Source: vccircle.com