Info Edge Backed Mydala To Launch International Operations

mydala

Info Edge backed deals service Mydala is expanding its operations to other Asia Pacific countries including Thailand, reports The Hindu Business Line.

Citing Mydala CEO Anisha Singh, the report also adds that the company is looking to expand its operations in India from existing 145 cities to 250 cities and is looking to double its headcount to 600 employees by end of 2013. While Singh didn’t disclose the current revenues of the company, she claimed that they broke even in April 2013 and they hope to cross a net revenue of Rs 100 crore this year. We have contacted Mydala for more details on this and will update the story once we get a response.

In Thailand, Mydala will compete with other couponing ventures like Groupon Thailand, LivingSocial Thailand which acquired the deal site Ensogo in June 2011, and Sanook Coupon among others.

Funding: Launched in November 2009, Mydala has raised around Rs 28 crore investment from Info Edge and angel investors like Ajay Relan and Jayanta Basu of CX Partners until now. It had raised Rs 18 crore (around $3.7 million) from Info Edge in October 2011, Rs 9 crore ($2 million) from Info Edge in April 2011 and $250,000 angel funding from Ajay Relan and Jayanta Basu in November 2010.

Mydala currently offers coupons across various categories like restaurants, health & beauty and travel. It also has a product section through which it offers product deals across various categories like electronics, books, mobile phones, lifestyle, apparel, and appliances among others. However, do note that the company doesn’t hold any inventory of these products and acts more like a deals marketplace. The company claims to offer deals from more than 100,000 merchants in India and claims to have 200 million registered users across 145 cities.

Mydala provides these coupons through its website, WAP site and mobile apps on iOS, Android and BlackBerry app. The company also has tie-ups with telcos like Vodafone, Idea Cellular and more recently Tata Docomo to offer deals to their respective subscribers. Last month, Info Edge CFO Ambarish Raghuvanshi had informed that these telco partnerships had accounted for a significant revenue growth for the past 12 months.

4 Comments

Anisha Singh June 18, 2013

Dear Rick –Thank you for the very enlightening personal angle to my company’s PR. I’m sure it makes for a more interesting read.

A few REAL facts to help along the way though - for your next industry gossip
posting

Kunal goes a bit further back than Mydala/me with money saver. I have never
claimed to 'Get Snapdeal'; truthfully though I did roll my eyes when someone
mentioned them but it was more competitive or market humor . One of our initial
employees did pitch the idea to Kunal which is how Snapdeal got started but
unlike what you say it was obvious to us that Groupon would be copied here. It
was being copied world over so it wasn’t like I pledged to 'take revenge or die
trying' ...a bit filmy to say the least.

Here is how we reach the number that we do in terms of showcasing our deals. We are live on Vodafone platforms, Tata Docomo and Idea couponing platform (which is live) and via different VAS providers on Airtel and others.

We don’t claim to be the hottest property but the fact is that we have broken even which is in my opinion, a good accomplishment in this space. We are audited by one of the Big 4 accounting firms, and their report is shared with our investors, including Infoedge.

I’m happy that you remember us though. So what if its because of my ‘Get Snapdeal’ campaign. Its people like you that will help entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs go a long way. It’s the encouragement that you provide us that helps, because I know you’d have definitely not written this had it been two of guys from the
industry.

Anisha

CEO @mydala

Rick Costello June 17, 2013

Word in the market is that Anisha and Kunal go back a long way. According to Anisha - Kunal 'stole' her idea of a Groupon model in India and did it themselves. She has been known to tell people that she will 'Get Snapdeal'. So what if the numbers are waaaaay out of line?

There is factually incorrect stuff here, and I wonder if Infoedge (as a listed company) can verify these claims:

1. 200 mn users - even if you were to take their Vodafone base, that doesn't add up (there aren't enough transacting people out there)

2. They aren't live with TataDOCOMO / Idea (at least not yet)

3. If they were trending towards own revenues of Rs. 100 Cr of net revenue this year - they would be the hottest property in e-commerce in India currently, which they are not.

4. If you go on their website, the number of deals that are available are abysmally low.

I like the business model, but completely faking it for PR / valuation purposes wont get them too far...

Anonymous June 15, 2013

Thanks for the story.
200 million users sounds dubious, there aren't enough internet users for it to happen. Might be better to recheck and confirm.
For example, Snapdeal with much more funding ($100+ Million) and revenues, claims 20 million users.