Titan Acquires HUG Innovations To Strengthen Its Digital Foray

India's leading watchmaker Titan has acqui-hired HUG Innovations, a Hyderabad-based wearable, and IoT platform startup for an undisclosed amount to step its business into the digital space. As per Titan spokesperson, from now team HUG will work with Titan's Hyderabad Development Centre. 

The Nirbhaya incident in 2012 shook Raj, and he really wanted to work for women's safety. Eventually, he kicked off HUG Innovations in 2014.

HUG  got a US patent in May 2019 for Gesture Control Technology, which can trigger an SOS alarm based on gestures. n December, HUG also promoted its fitness band, which is sold for Rs. 1,799 and its smartwatch for Rs 4,499 on Amazon. 

HUG has a small team of 23 that is transformed into the Titan Hyderabad Development Centre. Besides, Raj Neravati is appointed as the head of Titan's technology for wearables. The Development Center will advance the startup by offering its expertise in hardware, software,  firmware,  consumer platform, cloud technology, and patents. 

Titan Watches and Wearables business CEO Ravi Kant said that we have stabilized in the wearables journey with the launch of our new product, Titan Connected X, and by creating Hyderabad Development Centre.

Ravi adds, Titan was looking for the startup that would be fruitful,  acquiring HUG was the right choice. After the acquisition, we launched Connected X, Titan's new smartwatch, which is a full touch screen with 13 features.

According to a previous statement by Titan, the company had some plans to launch a smartwatch by 2020 at a comparatively more affordable price. According to Ravi, Titan stands 5th as the largest watchmaker in the world. It had sold around 17 million watches in 2019, and it takes over more than 50% watch market share in India.

Titan has registered a net profit of Rs 470 crores for the year 2019, and Rs 416 crores for 2018. It has a remarkable rise of 13 % every year.