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Tag: GIC

  • Flipkart raises $1 billion; to focus on mobile technology

    Flipkart raises $1 billion; to focus on mobile technology

    MUMBAI: Flipkart has raised $1 billion in one of the largest funding rounds for any e-commerce company, globally.

     

    The round led by existing investors, Tiger Global Management and Naspers, saw Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, as the new investor along with existing investors Accel Partners, DST Global, ICONIQ Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Sofina also participating in the latest financing round.

     

    The funds will be used to make long-term strategic investments in India, especially in mobile technology.

     

    “We believe internet will improve the quality of life for millions of Indians, and e- commerce is going to play a huge role in this change. The focus at Flipkart is to continue to make shopping online simpler and more accessible through the use of technology,” said founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.

     

    They added, “We have close to 22 million registered users today. We handle five million shipments a month. These numbers were unheard of a few years back and we are excited about the scale we have managed to achieve. But what is even more exciting is the huge opportunity that we still see before us.”

     

    India has 243 million internet users – and this number continues to grow very fast. By 2020, India will have more than half a billion mobile internet users. The platform will now focus on mobile and technology to take advantage of the massive opportunity.

     

    The new funding will enable it to step up its investments for innovations in products and technologies, setting it up to become the mobile e-commerce company of the future. It will help the e-retailer further accelerate momentum and build its presence to become a technology powerhouse.

     

    Over the past few years, Flipkart has led the supply-chain innovation in India. It has focused on making the online shopping experience as seamless as possible: being the first to launch 30 day replacement policy and the first player to run 24×7 customer support at scale in India, In-a-Day guarantee in 50 cities and the subscription service ‘Flipkart First’.

     

    Flipkart, which recently acquired Myntra, plans to continue investing in training sellers for the marketplace, providing all small  and  medium  entrepreneurs,  manufacturers  and  artisans  a  national  platform  to connect with millions of customers.

  • Pyramid Saimira plans Rs 3 billion film funding, ties up with banks

    Pyramid Saimira plans Rs 3 billion film funding, ties up with banks

    MUMBAI: Financial institutions are structuring film financing in innovative ways. Chennai-based cinema chain operator Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd has tied up with banks, an insurance company and a film completion bond firm to provide an annual corpus of Rs 3 billion for funding film producers.

    IDBI Bank and HDFC have taken the lead and the guarantees from Infinity Film Completion Services (IFCS) will be re-insured by General Insurance Corporation (GIC). IFCS is a division of Infinity India Advisors Pvt Ltd.
    Pyramid Saimira plans to produce 25 movies through this route. “Our company will act as the guarantor to the banks for funding the producers. We will own all rights of exploitation including theatrical, satellite TV and international. This will provide a content pipeline of 25 films for our theatres. As we are also in film distribution, this will complete the value chain in the movie business,” says Pyramid Saimira managing director PS Saminathan.

    Pyramid has entered into an MOU with IFCS which will issue the completion guarantee for films to be procured by the company in the languages of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. These guarantees are fully re-insured by GIC. This agreement is a major step towards creation of film content supply chain for us and in effect indirectly funds close to Rs 3 billion of working capital as off balance sheet funding,” says Saminathan.

    The company will, thus, be able to build of library of movies while feeding the supply chain to the theatres and the distribution business. “Besides, film producers will get access to cheaper and organised finance. The banks will be charging around 14 per cent interest as against the unorganised charge of 40 per cent,” says Saminathan.

    Pyramid Saimira recently raised Rs 844.4 million through a public float to part-finance its expansion plans. This included refurbishing theatres after taking them on long term lease and installing digital systems of delivery.