Khatabook acquires Biz Analyst in $10M deal

Bengaluru: Fintech startup Khatabook on Thursday announced the acquisition of Biz Analyst, a leading software as a service (SaaS) business management application, in a deal worth $10 million (about Rs 73 crore) as a mix of cash and equity.

Acquisition is a part of Khatabook's ongoing efforts on monetisation and growth.

The platform will enable Khatabook's micro, small and medium-sized business customers to digitise operations for business growth by leveraging business analytics, sales force automation and digital invoicing. Launched in late 2016, Biz Analyst is a cash flow positive business providing solutions to small and medium-sized businesses using Tally accounting software to automate daily business operations and make data-driven decisions to manage sales, inventory, outstandings and productivity.

The company currently has over 80,000 paid users.

Biz Analyst, now as a part of Khatabook, aims to double the user base in 2021 and create bigger opportunities for the network of its over 1,000 channel partners.

Khatabook said that the Biz Analyst team will continue to run independently, retaining Mumbai operations while maintaining synergies with the Khatabook headquarter in Bengaluru.

The original co-founding team of Biz Analyst Vaibhav Vasa, Mehul Sutariya, and Nilesh Zaveri will now be a part of Khatabook's leadership team. "This deal is our first strategic acquisition as we intensify our network effects up the supply chain and focus on monetisation. The features and strengths that Biz Analyst offers are the perfect extension to our present business portfolio. The acquisition is a step forward for Khatabook in its mission to provide business efficiency to India's MSMEs through value-added services," Ravish Naresh, CEO and Co-founder, Khatabook, said in a statement.

Over the course of the last year, several MSMEs and kiranas have adopted technology to become more operationally resilient.

With this acquisition, Khatabook said it aims to leapfrog into the next phase of growth and offer its customer base of over 10 million monthly active merchants an opportunity to scale up their businesses by utilising premium value-added services.