Latest data has revealed that unicorns outpace other technology companies when it comes to acquisitions in the country, reported LiveMint.

A study by Tracxn, a technology data tracker, shows that in the last four years, about 36 acquisitions have been made by five unicorns in the country, the report said on Monday.

This drive to acquire more firms is in contrast to the operation of traditional tech companies who rarely opt for such a method.

While this data showed that a unicorn like Quikr was involved in 12 acquisitions since 2016, data by Crunchbase showed that India’s largest tech firm Tata Consultancy Services Ltd had made just two such acquisitions, added the report.

According to the report, it's not just the volume of acquisitions but also the success of such actions that is leading the way for unicorns against the other companies. The best example was Myntra, which was acquired by Flipkart for nearly $330 million in 2014, the report said. When Walmart purchased Flipkart, Myntra comprised $5.5-6.5 billion of the deal value, becoming one of the most successful acquisitions by a unicorn in India so far, it added.

The reason for the success of unicorns when it comes to acquisitions has a lot to do with the size of the deals, as per the report. Unlike traditional firms which primarily focus on big deals, the unicorns make purchases in the range of $40-50 million or just acqui-hires, where a startup is bought primarily for the skills or expertise of its employees and not the products or services it may be offering, added the report.

First Published:Jun 10, 2019 9:15 AM IST