Apollo buys Germanys Reifencom

Apollo buys Germany's ReifencomApollo Tyres Ltd has agreed to acquire Germany-based tyre distributor Reifencom GmbH for $49 million, according to a stock market disclosure.The acquisition, expected to be completed over the next three months, is subject to regulatory and anti-trust approvals in Germany and across Europe.Reifencom is one of the largest tyre distributors in Germany and has an online presence in six countries - Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. In addition, it operates 37 stores and service centres across Germany.Neeraj Kanwar, vice-chairman and managing sirector, Apollo Tyres, said: “The acquisition is a strategic fit in growing our European business. It will enable Apollo to improve its mix of distribution channels in Germany and Europe, and aid in increasing the visibility of Apollo and Vredestein tyres in the offline and especially the fast growing online retail space.”Headquartered at Gurgaon, Apollo Tyres is engaged in the manufacture of tyres. It offers automotive tubes, tyres, and rubber products. The firm also provides truck/bus radial, off-the-road tyres, re-treading and allied automotive services. It caters to two, three and four wheeler vehicles.Nexus invests in US crowd solutionsIndia-based Nexus Venture Partners has led a $6-million Series A investment round in California-based crowd-solving platform POPin, which also saw the participation from Greylock Partners. The capital will be used to scale up sales and marketing.The funds will be used by POPin to scale up development, sales and marketing team and operations. The investment will also see Naren Gupta, co-founder and managing director of Nexus, and Adriel Lares, former CFO of Lookout, join POPin's board.“POPin offers a value proposition by enabling teams to incorporate mutual viewpoints to drive success. Thus, the POPin platform increases buy-in and shared ownership, resulting in greater unity and cohesion,” said Gupta.POPin, the app, allows those belonging to an organisation to collect feedback from different groups through an online discussion forum, and then have teams vote on shared priorities to resolve problems.Nexus invests in Indian and US start-ups which have an Indian footprint. Recently, it invested in US-based start-up Rancher Labs Inc, which develops open source container infrastructure software.