Online fashion retailer Myntra said it had acquired tech start-up Witworks for an undisclosed amount. The Bengaluru-based firm is focussed on producing smart wearable devices and their underlying software.
As part of the acquisition, Flipkart-owned Myntra said that it had inducted the team into its innovation labs. The e-tailer said the acquisition would enable it to develop wearable products for its in-house brands as well as leverage the technology to drive innovation and enhance consumer engagement in the future.“This acquisition will enable us to develop and launch cutting-edge wearable products like smart shoes, connected smart watches and interactive and intelligent clothing with biosensors,” Jeyandran Venugopal, chief technology officer, Myntra, said in a statement.
Smart wearables
He said that wearables is currently a ₹300-crore industry in India and is growing rapidly, with online contributing 60% to the total business.
Witworks Consumer Technologies was founded in 2014 by Somnath Meher, Ankit DP and Chandrashekhar Iyer, alumni of IIT-Kharagpur. It unveiled its flagship wearable device, the Blink Watch in 2016, which operates on their voice-based platform, Marvin OS. The company also has a range of audio and fitness wearable devices, under the same brand.
In 2016, Myntra bought its competitor Jabong for $70 million to help it compete with bigger rival Amazon. That year it also acquired Cubeit, a firm that facilitates content aggregation on mobile devices. In 2015, Myntra bought Bengaluru-based mobile app development platform company, Native5. In 2013, it also acquired U.S.-based firm Fitiquette which had created a virtual fitting room technology.
