Online marketplace Snapdeal today announced the acquisition of Wishpicker.com, a rapidly growing technology platform that offers users gift options based on intelligent recommendations. The acquisition of Wishpicker comes a few months after the acquisition of Doozton, a cutting edge social product discovery technology platform.
The acquisition, a fifth one for Snapdeal.com, will enable the premier marketplace to further personalise user experience and drive conversions through intelligent recommendations, the company said in a statement.
Founded in 2013 by Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, graduates – Apurv Bansal and Prateek Rathore – Wishpicker.com offers users smart gifting options based on different parameters like relationship with the recipient, their age, personality, and various other parameters.
Users can also find gift suggestions based on Facebook likes and interests of recipient. Wishpicker.com’s platform uses machine learning, which ensures that the recommendations get better with every passing day. The algorithms are completely data driven, and have been built by Wishpicker’s team of IIT data scientists.
Announcing the acquisition, Rohit Bansal, co-founder of Snapdeal.com said, “At Snapdeal.com our focus is to leverage technology to create life changing experiences for buyers and sellers. We are investing in strengthening our technology platform and Wishpicker.com is an excellent platform with top-tier entrepreneurial, engineering talent and fits in perfectly with our vision.”
“This is an important acquisition for us in terms of adding new technology capabilities and helping sellers connect with buyers in newer ways,” Bansal said.
Earlier this year Snapdeal.com had acquired Doozton.com, a social product discovery technology platform, focused on the fashion and lifestyle categories, which helps consumers discover trending products and designs from online stores across India.
With over 30 million members and 50,000+ merchants, Snapdeal.com delivers products to 5000+ cities and towns in India. The company witnessed phenomenal growth in 2013-14, growing 600% from 2013 to 2014, with over 60% of its orders coming from mobile phones.
In its journey till now, Snapdeal has partnered with several global marquee investors and individuals such as Softbank, BlackRock, Temasek, eBay Inc., Premji Invest, Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Ratan Tata, Nexus Venture Partners, Kalaari Capital, among others.
