Intel Capital has announced investments of a total of $23 Million in three companies - Mobile VAS company One97 Communications, which has been looking to raise funding since May, IndiaMART, a B2B marketplace which competes with the like of Alibaba.com and Global Talent Track, which provides short and long term vocational training courses, and powers the platform for the same.
One97 Communications and IndiaMART are large players in their respective segments, both are profitable, and the money will be used to fund growth initiatives - marketing, expansion and development of new products/services. The individual investment amounts have not been disclosed, but we believe that the investment amounts are in the following order: One97 has raised the most, followed by IndiaMART and GTTL.
One97 Communications has been founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma (VSS) in 2000 and had previously raised around $8-10 Million in funding from SAIF Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. Investors from the first round have also participated in this one.
Earlier last year, Outlook Business had reported that IndiaMART has revenues of Rs. 38 crores (almost $10 million), with a topline that has been growing by 50 percent year-on-year since 2003. The site was generating 500,000 buyer inquiries per month, and its paid user-base has increased from 100 in 1997 (they year they broke even) to 14,000. It competes with Alibaba.com and TradeIndia.com, which claims 700,000 registered users, and growth of 35 percent year-on-year.
GTTL, which was set up last year, will use the money to roll out vocational education services in India and abroad. Of these, GTTL is the youngest - having been started in 2008 by Uma Ganesh and Ganesh Natarajan. The investment has been co-led by Helion Venture Partners.
