Gadget portal 91mobiles acquires majority stake in 500 Startups-backed Pricebaba

Gurugram-based smartphone discovery platform 91mobiles has acquired a majority stake in 500 Startups funded gadget research platform Pricebaba. The details of the acquisition remain undisclosed.

As a part of the acquisition, 500 Startups will exit the venture and Annkur P Agarwal, Co-founder of Pricebaba, will move to an advisory role.

91mobiles is looking to scale the Pricebaba platform to cater to the growing regional language users new to the digital platforms. In order to leverage the growing opportunity in regional languages, 91mobiles is planning to invest $500,000 to offer content in more than 10 regional languages, including text, video, and audio.

Talking about the acquisition, Nitin Mathur, Co-founder of 91mobiles, said, “While smartphones remain the largest electronics category online, we are now seeing sharp growth in the number of people researching online before purchasing appliances and electronics other than smartphones as well. We will leverage our abilities in technology and content to help Pricebaba.com cater to a growing share of this audience.”

Mumbai-based Pricebaba was founded by Annkur P Agarwal in 2012. It provides a platform for users to research, analyze and compare gadgets to enhance their buying experience by helping them discover the best gadgets based on their preferences.

Pricebaba is helping more than 5 million users every month to make decisions regarding various categories of electronic gadgets including smartphones, TVs, ACs, washing machine, and refrigerators, among others.

91mobiles was founded by Bharanidharan Viswanathan and Nitin Mathur in 2010 and launched in 2012. It provides a smartphone platform to help its buyers decide which phone to buy based on their comprehensive reviews of the smartphones.

91Digital Web Pvt Ltd, the parent company of 91mobiles now owns three websites in the gadgets vertical including 91mobiles.com, Pricebaba.com, and KillerFeatures.com, with combined monthly visits reaching up to 30 million. The platform counts India Quotient, among its investors.

91mobiles competes with other smartphone discovery platforms including Hyderabad-based MySmartPrice, BGR India, and New Delhi-based Phonecurry, among others.