Bigtree Entertainment, the parent company of BookMyShow, has raised Rs 550 crore from US-based private equity firm Stripes Group. Other existing investors – Network 18, Accel Partners and SAIF Partners – also participated in the round of funding.
The Economic Times reported that this would value the company at more than Rs 3,000 crore.
This is BookMyShow’s fourth round funding and its largest. It had raised Rs 150 crore from SAIF Partners and others in 2014. The company raised Rs 100 crore from Accel Partners in return for a minority stake in the company in August 2012. Network18 owns 39.35% in BookMyShow. Before BookMyShow raised funding from Accel Partners, Network18 held 60% in the company, in FY12.
This fresh infusion of funds comes at a time when BookMyShow entered new international territories such as Indonesia. Founded in Mumbai in 1999 and re-launched in 2007, BookMyShow is now present in over 350 towns and cities across India. BookMyShow gets 60% of its revenue from movie tickets while 40% from plays, events and sports events. Network18 mentioned that BookMyShow has sold an average of more than 4.5 million tickets a month in FY15, with over 50% of the tickets now being bought via mobile.
Financials: For the year ended March 2015, BookMyShow reported revenues of Rs 127.6 crore, up 51.9% from Rs 84.02 crore revenues reported in the previous year. The company’s loss trebled to Rs 13.5 crore, from Rs 4.03 crore in the preceding year.
Acquisitions: In March 2016, BookMyShow acquired Fantain Sports, a Chennai based fan management and analytics startup, for an undisclosed amount, to expand its reach and grow its user base. Fantain offers fan engagement through mobile and web solutions, stubs and widgets which can be used in channels to capture and send fan interaction via TV, digital, web, POS etc to its database for analysis
In February 2015, the company bought a majority stake in Eventifier for $2 million for an all cash deal, with existing investors exiting the company. Started in June 2012 by Jazeel Badur Ferry, Nasim Zeeshan and Mohammed Saud, Eventifier allows event organizers to archive event related content like photos, videos, slides, tweets and conversations from the web to a dedicated events page.
