On July 12, 2021, CCI approved the acquisition of 8.37% shareholding in Bundl Technologies Private Limited (‘Bundl’) by SVF II Songbird (DE) LLC (‘SVF’).^[1]

SVF is a newly incorporated limited liability company in the United States and belongs to the Softbank Group (‘SB Group’). Softbank Group Corp. (‘SBG’) is the parent entity of the SB Group and is a public traded corporation in Japan. SB Group is present in India through its direct and indirect subsidiaries (controlled entities) and investments in portfolio companies active in India (‘SBG Port Cos.’). Bundl is the ultimate holding entity of all Bundl Group companies (subsidiaries, affiliates, and joint ventures). It is primarily engaged in providing hyperlocal on-demand food delivery services in India through its brand ‘Swiggy’ (an online food delivery platform).

The SB Group (indirectly through the SBG Port Cos.) is present in certain markets that Bundl Group is active in. Therefore, CCI assessed the following horizontal and vertical overlaps.

 Horizontal Overlaps

i.    Retail sale of groceries and daily essentials: The SB Group has an indirect presence through: (i) Paytm E-Commerce Private Limited; (ii) Grofers India Private Limited; and (iii) Snapdeal Private Limited. Bundl is also engaged in this segment through its pilot operation ‘Instamart’ in the cities of Bengaluru and Gurugram, and limited presence since July 2020 through ‘Swiggy Stores’.

ii.   Organised food services: The SB Group has presence through an SBG Port Cos., ANI Technologies Private Limited, which, through its subsidiary, Pisces eServices Private Limited, has limited operations in the market for the sale of food through OlaFoods. Bundl is also engaged in this segment through ‘The Bowl Company’ and ‘Homely’.

iii.  Food packaging material: The SB Group is indirectly present through Zume Inc., and Bundl is active in this segment through its platform ‘Swiggy StaplesPlus’.

CCI observed that Bundl had insignificant presence in each of the markets identified above, and thus the activities of Bundl and SB Group (through SBG Port Cos.) did not result in actual or substantial horizontal overlaps. CCI also found that there are established competitors in each of the markets identified by CCI.

Vertical Overlaps

CCI examined the parties’ vertical relationship in the digital payment services market, and online advertising services market. For the parties’ position in digital payments services, CCI observed that the SB Group through PayTM and Ola Money had an insignificant market position in the broad market for digital payment services, and narrow market for mobile wallet and unified payments interface based payment services. Similarly, Bundl’s companies had a miniscule market share of less than 1% in these markets.

In the online advertising services market, the parties’ companies had negligible presence in the upstream market for provision of online advertising services, and the downstream market for procurement of online services. Other established competitors such as Google and Facebook also operate in these markets.

Based on the analysis, CCI concluded that this transaction was unlikely to raise any competition foreclosure concerns and approved the transaction.

[1] Combination Registration No. C-2021/06/842.