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Happy Tuesday! Coforge and Cigniti Technologies move closer to a merger. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch. Also in the letter: ■ Wealthtech startup Univest raises funds ■ OpenAI challenges Meta AI ■ Trump taps Krishnan for AI advisor Coforge, Cigniti forge ahead with proposed merger Coforge and Cigniti Technologies are progressing toward a merger , with EY and Axis Capital appointed to finalise merger terms.
Deal details: The final terms are expected to be presented to shareholders within two weeks, according to sources familiar with the matter. As per the merger plan, Coforge will absorb the listed Cigniti Technologies. Cigniti Technologies shareholders will be issued shares of Coforge once the advisers come up with an acceptable swap ratio, according to the people cited.
Coforge, formerly known as NIIT Technologies, owns a 54% stake in Cigniti Technologies. Adding context: Coforge had acquired a majority stake in Cigniti Technologies on May 2 and later raised Rs 2,240 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) to finance the deal. The merger is expected to create significant synergies, combining Coforge’s clients in North America’s east coast with Cigniti’s presence in the west and Midwest.
Zoom in: Despite the $250 billion IT industry seeing one of its worst growth periods in the last two years, Coforge have managed to report strong growth and profitability. Under the leadership of its CEO Sudhir Singh, the company hit the $1 billion revenue milestone in April 2023 and is looking at AI to scale to $5 billion. Singh called AI a “massive opportunity” and emphasised the company’s focus on becoming an AI-first organisation to accelerate its growth trajectory.
Oyo closes $525 million G6 Hospitality deal to expand global footprint Oyo CEO Ritesh Agarwal Hospitality startup Oyo has completed the acquisition of US-based lodging franchisor G6 Hospitality, the parent company of Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands, from Blackstone Real Estate for $525 million. Driving the news: The acquisition, which was announced on September 20, is expected to boost the startup's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) to over Rs 2,000 crore in FY26. Portfolio expansion: The transaction adds approximately 1,500 franchised hotels across the US and Canada to Oyo’s portfolio, significantly enhancing its presence in North America.
The combined entity is expected to generate a gross booking value of approximately $3 billion, with G6 Hospitality accounting for $1.7 billion of the total amount. Tell me more: Oyo’s founder Ritesh Agarwal is planning to buy another Rs 550 crore worth of shares to increase his stake in the company, we reported on November 18 .
The startup’s last funding round, totalling $175 million , was led by Agarwal, who invested $100 million. Valuation update: The company is valued at $4.6 billion after Nuvama Wealth and Investment’s Rs 100 crore investment in parent Oravel Stays through a secondary transaction.
This is around 49% lower than the SoftBank-backed company’s peak valuation of $9 billion in 2021. Other Top Stories By Our Reporters (L-R) Pranit Arora, Avneet Dhamija and Vikash Agrawal, founders, Univest Univest raises $10 million from Bertelsmann India: Wealthtech platform Univest has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), the strategic investment arm of German giant Bertelsmann SE & Co. ET was the first to report in November that Univest was in discussions to raise funds from BII.
Meta is in a spot of bother as ChatGPT comes to WhatsApp: OpenAI's launch of a WhatsApp account may put pressure on Meta's own AI assistant that, CEO Mark Zuckerberg had earlier said, would aim to become the world's most used consumer chatbot. However, OpenAI's move to foray into WhatsApp would impact Meta AI’s reach. Meet Chennai techie set to guide Trump on all things AI tech: The list of Indian Americans being appointed as part of the Trump 2.
0 administration is getting sizable. The latest to join the list is Chennai-born Sriram Krishnan who has been picked to serve as the Senior White House Policy Advisor for AI. Global Picks We Are Reading ■ 2024 was the year the bottom fell out of the games industry ( Wired ) ■ AI’s assault on our intellectual property must be stopped ( FT ) ■ Will we ever trust robots? ( MIT Technology Review ).
