ContentSutra Exclusive:
Mobile2win, a mobile content company that has operations in India and China, is close to receiving funding from one of the world’s largest venture capital funds – Promod Haque’s Norwest Venture Partners. The talks are in advanced stages and a deal will be signed anytime soon.
We couldn’t ascertain the exact amount of investment, however, according to sources, the investment will be in the range of $10-15 million. When contacted, Mobile2win’s India country manager Rajiv Hiranandani offered only this much, “No comments.” Two emails we sent to Vab Goel, the partner in charge of India at NVP, did not elicit response.
Mobile2win is a spin-off of Contests2win, a company owned by Alok Kejriwal. The company is incorporated in Hong Kong and operates in China through its subsidiary Mobile2win China Ltd and in India through Mobile2win India Pvt. Ltd. The investors in Mobile2win are Siemens Mobile Acceleration Gmbh (Siemens Venture Capital Fund), Softbank China Venture Capital and Contests2win India.
According to our sources, Contests2win and Siemens are diluting partially in this round. Another part will go to the company for funding its expansion activities. Softbank is not selling its stake. Now we will wait for an announcement on this deal, which is expected in a couple of weeks.
Indian mobile content space has attracted a good deal of VC attention. We broke the story of WestBridge Capital Partners (now merged with Sequoia Capital)’s $10 million investment in Mauj Telecom early this year. We also had the story of WestBridge investing $1.5 million in Nazara Technologies.
Related:
Read our earlier interview with Rajiv Hiranandani, India CEO of Mobile2win.
VC investments in Indian mobile content / tech companies:
— Kleiner And Sherpalo Invests $5 Million-Plus In Paymate
— IMImobile Raises $10 Million From Pequot Ventures
— Mauj Telecom Gets $10 Million From WestBridge, Intel Capital and Sequoia
— Nazara Gets $1.5 Million Funding From WestBridge Capital
Comments have been disabled for this post