Mobile Value Added Services company One97 Communications is in the process of raising $25 million in Series B funding, the company has confirmed to contentSutra. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and MD of One97 Communications said that the company will close the funding shortly, and has signed term sheets; existing investors are willing to put in more funds than the pro rata requirement. The company will use the funding for going global – China is among the markets they’re eying – and will also set aside money for acquisitions and incubation. This year One97 plans to roll out new services, broaden the existing product portfolio with investment in infrastructure, R&D and with inorganic growth.
The company is fairly bullish: Sharma told contentSutra that they’ve seen 6 times growth in month-on-month revenues over the last fiscal. One97 Communications claims to be the largest voice platform in the country handling a billion calls, half a billion SMS and WAP, and 140 million unique users on their platform. One97 had raised a Series A funding of around $10 million from SAIF Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. Sharma had founded One97 in 2000. Other significant players in the VAS space are OnMobile Global (a public listed entity) Bharti Telesoft (part of the Bharti Airtel group), Cellebrum (part of the Spice Mobile group) and IMI Mobile.
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