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Tag: Canaan Partners

  • CarTrade.com raises Rs 185 crore

    CarTrade.com raises Rs 185 crore

    MUMBAI: Online auto classifieds platform CarTrade.com has raised Rs 185 crore to diversify and strengthen the portal’s offerings for consumers and dealers.

     

    The infusion of capital was led by an affiliate of Warburg Pincus along with participation from existing investors Canaan Partners and Tiger Global.

     

    Speaking about the fund raising, CarTrade.com founder and CEO Vinay Sanghi said, “We are extremely happy to have Warburg Pincus on board as a partner. The funds raised shall be employed to further expand our services to help us offer our consumers and dealers a seamless online experience.

     

    “We also plan to focus significantly on the mobile space and provide products and services, which will be best in class and in many cases the first of its kind,” he added.

     

    CarTrade offers a selection of over 100,000 listings, price information and certification for used cars. For new buyers, it offers reviews, on-road prices, car comparisons and latest auto news.

     

    Warburg Pincus is focused on growth investing and has over $ 39 billion in assets under management spanning over 125 companies.

     

    “We see tremendous potential in the Indian automobile market. CarTrade is one of the most innovative platforms in the online auto sector, and has shown strong growth momentum in the last couple of years. Warburg Pincus is excited about the opportunity to partner with a very talented team to further build on its position and to accelerate its growth plans,” commented Warburg Pincus India managing director Nitin Nayar.

     

    CarTrade is promoted by former head of Mahindra First Choice Sanghi and Nirvana Venture Advisors ex-managing director and eBay India former country head Rajan Mehra.

     

  • SureWaves raises Rs 35 crore in second round of funding

    SureWaves raises Rs 35 crore in second round of funding

    BANGALORE: SureWaves MediaTech (SureWaves) has announced that it has secured Rs 35 crore in a second round of funding that was led by Canaan Partners.

     

    It also saw participation from existing investors Accel Partners India and India Innovation Fund.

     

    SureWaves’ ground-breaking technology enables large scale aggregation of audiences across multiple television channels and offers a single window interface to large national advertisers to effectively reach out to mass audiences on a market by market basis. SureWaves claims that its Spot TV Network is one of the largest connected television networks of its kind anywhere in the world spanning across 28 states and seven union territories in India through partnerships with over 280 cable TV channels that reach more than 80 million households and 400 million viewers.

     

    SureWaves founder and CMD Rajendra Khare says, “Our vision is to leverage the power of media through use of technology for all-round and inclusive socio-economic growth. The funding will be used to invest in the growth of the company and support further innovation. The backing from such prestigious investors is a clear and strong sign that they believe in our vision and the market itself. ”

     

    Canaan Partners India partner Alok Mittal says, “SureWaves is revolutionising television advertising by infusing the smartness of digital media like internet and mobile into the mainstream medium of television. Canaan recognises the huge potential of SureWaves to become one of the foremost media company in television advertising and we are excited to be associated with them”.

     

    Accel Partners in India Partner Shekhar Kirani says, “SureWaves has built a completely disruptive technology that solves the challenges arising out of growing media fragmentation in television and we are excited to continue supporting SureWaves”.

     

    India Innovation Fund’s Rajesh Rai says, “We’ve been associated with SureWaves since 2011, since that time we’ve seen the business grow and evolve into a robust model and we wish them solid momentum in 2014”.

     

    SureWaves is headquartered in Bangalore with offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

  • AdNear raises Rs 350 mn from Sequoia and Canaan Partners

    MUMBAI: Location-based mobile advertising platform AdNear raised Rs 350 million ($6.3 million) from Sequoia Capital and Canaan Partners in the first round of early-stage venture funding. The company leverages real-time geo-location, combined with consumer behaviour, to target relevant users.

    The company intends to utilise the funds raised towards expanding its operations in the Asia Pacific region. AdNear is also looking at expanding its team. Currently, the company services clients across the Asia Pacific region including Australia apart from India and Singapore. AdNear has offices in Singapore and Bangalore.

    AdNear was set up in 2009 by Anil Mathews and has offices in Singapore and Bengaluru. It was earlier called Imere Technologies. AdNear‘s ad platform is built on proprietary hybrid geo-location platform, which helps provide location awareness on mobile phones without GPS or operator assistance. Its clients include brands like Titan, Ford, Toyota, Pizza Hut, Samsung, Airtel and Nokia.

    By leveraging real-time geo-location and combining it with consumer behaviour, the platform allows brands to target relevant users within a geo-fence. This allows them to reach out to a larger audience making the communication more geographically relevant for the advertiser and the consumer. The ad platform is available on smart phones and feature phones.

    Canaan‘s current technology investments in India include Naaptol, BharatMatrimony and UnitedLex and Sequoia has invested in companies like Café Coffee Day, Idea Cellular, Just Dial, Manappuram Finance, Paras, Quick Heal, Micromax, Mu Sigma and Vasan Health Care.

  • Yahoo and Canaan Partners invest US$8.95 mn in BharatMatrimony

    Yahoo and Canaan Partners invest US$8.95 mn in BharatMatrimony

    MUMBAI: Yahoo! Inc., and Canaan Partners, a global venture investor in technology companies, have announced that the companies have both invested US $8.65 million in BharatMatrimony.com Pvt. Ltd. Both investors will be represented on the board of the company. Veda Corporate Advisors acted as a strategic advisor to the transaction.

    The BharatMatrimony Group plans to significantly expand its presence on-ground and will also invest in the global personals space. BharatMatrimony already offers content in six Indian languages and soon plans to offer content in two more languages. As part of its expansion plans, BharatMatrimony Group expects to double its headcount to 700 by the end of this year.

    The company also plans to increase the number of BharatMatrimony Centres (BMC), its offline initiative, from 38 to over 300 across the country by 2008. BharatMatrimony has plans to open offices in UK and in key South East Asian markets to cater to the Indian Diaspora and to open up religion / country based matrimony portals, informs an offcial release.

    The matrimony service provider with 7.5 million registered members, BharatMatrimony Group CEO Murugavel Janakiraman said, “It gives me immense pride that two of the world’s leading companies in the technology and Internet space have invested in our business. More importantly, the global knowledge, partnerships and experience that both these investors bring will help us scale our business globally. The infused capital will be used to further sustain our leadership position in the matrimony sector. The investment will also be used to enhance our portfolio of services and take them to leadership positions in their respective sectors.”

    Canaan Partners executive director – India Alok Mittal said, “We are very excited to be an investor in BharatMatrimony. The company is very well positioned to grow rapidly and maintain its leadership in the Indian Internet landscape while continuing to be a highly valuable company from a social standpoint. The company’s services truly change the lives of millions of Indians around the world. India is one of the key markets for Canaan Partners and we are looking at creating lasting partnerships in the technology space and generating shareholder wealth over the coming years.”

    Mittal, who will represent Canaan Partners on the Board, was the founding managing director of a prominent job portal, JobsAhead.com. Janakiraman says that Mittal’s experience and expertise will give a strong competitive advantage to BharatMatrimony’s ClickJobs.com, adds the release.

    Commenting on Yahoo!’s investment in BharatMatrimony, , Yahoo! Inc. chief financial officer Susan Decker said, “India is one of the fastest growing Internet markets and our investment in BharatMatrimony furthers Yahoo!’s plans to extend our leading position in the country.”

    Yahoo! India managing director George Zacharias said, “BharatMatrimony Group’s strength in matrimonial and other services complements the strong offerings we already provide in the Indian market across communications, search, and mobile. On completion of the investment, Yahoo! India and BharatMatrimony Group will cooperate through a business partnership”.