Infosys on Friday announced the acquisition of Kallidus Inc, a US-based e-commerce tech solutions firm, in an all-cash, $120-million deal. The IT major also announced a minority stake buy in another US startup, Airviz, for $2 million.

This is the second acquisition by Infosys in the last eight months since Vishal Sikka took over as CEO. The $200-million Panaya acquisition was the last.

The acquisition of Kallidus will include retention bonus and deferred components, but Infosys did not disclose details on revenue or profit. Kallidus, which provides cloud-based solutions, develops and hosts mobile websites, apps and other digital shopping services across mobile, tablet, desktop, in-store and all emerging channels.

Infosys’ latest acquisition reveals its aggressive M&A plans — Sikka has indicated a preference for next-generation technology companies. Sikka says Infosys has already derived considerable benefits from the Panaya acquisition by combining it with its existing services portfolio.

On the acquisition, Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst & CEO, Greyhound Research, said, “Infosys acquiring Kallidus for $120 million is a solid indication of the times moving forward. Its focus on m-Commerce is futuristic and promising. Visibility on plans to integrate acquired organisations is important. As per our analysis, similar acquisitions in the past for other firms have not always worked.”

Airviz is a personal air quality monitoring spinout from Carnegie Mellon University. This investment was made out of the $500-million innovation fund earmarked for investments in disruptive new technologies.

According to Infosys, the investment in Airviz provides it with a strong entry point in the personal health monitoring market. Airviz Speck is an affordable fine particulate monitor that uses patent pending technology from Carnegie Mellon University to understand and identify health hazards related to air quality. This is the second investment in startups by Infosys, the earlier one being a firm that a Dreamworks spin-off.

Incubator initiative

Infosys has also announced the launch of a new Incubator initiative to help identify, nurture and grow companies engaged in innovative, new and disruptive technologies.The initiative is part of the $500-million innovation fund, of which $250 million is dedicated to promising new companies in India.

Finacle merged with platform arm EdgeVerve

Infosys is merging its banking product business, Finacle, with its product and platform subsidiary EdgeVerve. Michael Reh, who heads the products group, will be in charge of both divisions. Finacle witnessed 23 order wins and 11 go-lives during the quarter. There are expectations it would roll out more banking solutions during the year.

For Updates Check Company News; follow us on Facebook and Twitter