Hero Electronix buys Zenatix, forays into Internet of Things space

Hero Electronix, the electronics and technology venture of the Hero Group, on Tuesday forayed into the Internet of Things (IoT) space with the acquisition of Gurugram-based Zenatix for an undisclosed amount.

Founded in 2013 by Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT)-Delhi engineers, Zenatix has built its own proprietary IoT stack, which includes hardware, cloud-based software and big-data analytics.

Bullish on the segment, Hero Electronix Founder Director Ujjwal Munjal said the company aims to invest Rs 3-4  billion over the next 3-5 years to expand in the IoT space.  

The company is eyeing revenues of around Rs 10 billion from the vertical in the next 5-6 years, he added.

“If we examine the IoT space in India today, we only see the tip of the proverbial iceberg. As our team drives innovation, we are exploring acquisition and partnerships with start-ups like Zenatix, who are combining technology and data driven insights for sectoral disruption,” Munjal said.

While the IoT solutions are for enterprises to begin with, the company is getting ready to venture into the consumer segment as well, he added.

Leveraging its advanced Machine Learning (ML)-based model, Zenatix analyses over 10 million data points every hour and deliver significant value in areas such as predictive maintenance and consumer experience analytics.

Some of the clients include Domino's Pizza, Vodafone, Mother Dairy among others.

With the acquisition, Hero Electronix plans to work closely with Zenatix to introduce new solutions to its existing clients and enter new segments. One of the aims of the company is to help address business challenges in retail, hospitality and logistics verticals through the deployment of IoT and emerging technologies, Hero Electronix CEO Nikhil Rajpal said.

“Also, Hero Electronix plans to widen the reach of Zenatix by foraying into global markets – countries such as south east Asia with similar challenges as the India market,” he added.

Hero Electronix had earlier invested in Tessolve, Malaysia's Spectrum Integrated Technologies SdnBhd and the test lab business of Singapore’s Lynxemi Pte Ltd.

In 2015, Hero Electronix acquired MyBox Technologies, one of India's largest multi-operator manufacturer of digital set-top boxes in the country.