ValueFirst acquires Cellnext

ValueFirst Messaging, an enterprise mobility and communication services company, today acquired Cellnext Solutions, a subsidiary of Escorts — an engineering conglomerate operating in agri-machinery, construction and material handling equipment sectors, along with railway equipment and auto components. Equirus Capital was the sole advisor for the transaction, the value of which was not disclosed.

Post-acquisition, ValueFirst intends to run Cellnext as a separate company providing value-added services (VAS). ValueFirst would retain and grow the Cellnext brand, leveraging its own sales structure and processes to build upon Cellnext’s domain knowledge and verticalised product offerings.

“Over the last six years, ValueFirst has been focusing on the enterprise segment. While Cellnext was a competitor as it had a presence in the enterprise market, it also has a good penetration among the telecom operator VAS segment. And since we were also keen to diversify, this acquisition made sense,” ValueFirst CEO Vish Bajaj said.

Along with access to the consumer market, Cellnext also has an M-Commerce platform which will increase the growth opportunity for ValueFirst.

“Cellnext was a part of the overall game plan of our erstwhile telecom business Escotel. Around five years ago, we decided to focus on our engineering businesses and divested our non-core businesses. However, we had continued to invest in Cellnext which today is a repository of frontline mobile messaging solutions,” Escorts Vice-President (Law & Company Secretary) G B Mathur said.

“The mobile VAS and messaging sector has grown exponentially in the last decade. We believe the sector has matured and it is the right time to consolidate,” Equirus Capital Associate Director Arun Gupta said.

ValueFirst had earlier this year raised $6 million from New Enterprise Associates.