One97 Communications acquires IM messaging platform Plustxt in $2 million
Bangalore based instant messaging app Plustxt has been acquired by One97 Communications for around $2 million. Plustxt India is a text messaging app with support in seven Indian regional languages. It allows text messaging in Indian language as well as via language keyboards. The company partnered with Reverie for the local language support.
Post acquisition Plustxt team will join one97 Communications office in Bangalore. Speaking about thoughts behind acquisition, Vijay Shekhar Sharma said Yourstory “The Plustxt team has created a scalable messaging platform with strong focus on indigenous users. Importantly, Indians are spending significant amount of time with messaging app and also buying digital goods like content and games. These propositions prompted us to acquire Plustxt”.
Interestingly, Indian messaging apps like Hike aspires to acquire consumers from India as well as foreign countries, “Post acquisition Plustxt will focus on Indian markets,” added Sharma.
The app offers indic word predictions based on the letter the user types in seven regional languages including Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Punjabi, Malayalam and Gujarati. The platform’s local language messaging is powered by Reverie language Technologies. Plustxt also enables users to send and receive text messages and replace their default SMS app with Plustxt.
Currently, Plustxt (read more) has 2.5 lakh registered users worldwide with 1 lakh are from India. The platform competes with WhatsApp, Hike WeChat with others. Founded by IIT alumni Pratysuh Prasanna, Lokesh Chouhan and Parag Arora Plustxt is compatible with iPhone and Android powered devices.
Earlier this year, the company had raised an undisclosed amount of angel investment from Mumbai Angels and InMobi co-founder Amit Gupta.The Plustxt messaging platform provides full control to the sender over the text he/she sends. That is, the sender can decide whether the recipient can/cannot copy or forward the text to others.