Leading Indian watchmaker Titan recently at a product launch event announced that it has acqui-hired Hyderabad-based IoT (Internet of Things) start-up HUG Innovations. Speaking at the launch event Titan CEO for Watches & Accessories S Ravi Kant said that the HUG Innovations team of 23 employees along with the founder Raj Shekhar Neravati have joined Titan on January 1.
Titan and HUG Innovations, both have denied commenting on the value of the transaction. Post-the acqui-hire process, the HUG Innovations team will form a Development Center for Titan in Hyderabad.
Announcing the acqui-hire on Facebook, Raj Neravati said, “HUG Innovations has finally sailed to a safe harbor. Titan acquired HUG Innovations. And yes this is a cash positive exit with 100 percent employee retention with bonus and a great career ahead.”
Neravati has now been appointed as the AVP and Head of Technology for Wearables at Titan Company.
Talking about the benefits of the acqui-hire Titan believes that HUG will help with the right expertise in hardware, firmware, software, and cloud technology. The company said that it will also get the advantage of access to HUG Innovations’ consumer platform and IPs that are extremely relevant in Titan’s wearables journey.
HUG Innovations was founded in 2014 after its founder Raj felt the need to make something for the safety of women in India., HUG Innovations offers a wearable HUG Smartwatch that employs gesture control for various activities like playing music and so forth. The smartwatch also tracks the users’ food and water intake along with different activities performed throughout the day. It gives the count of total calories burnt for the day.
Last year, HUG even patented the gesture technology that lets users make distress calls with the help of gestures.
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