Delhi-based mobile value added service company One97 Communications has received Series A funding from SAIF Partners. Silicon Valley Bank has also participated in the current round with a minority contribution. The stake sold or investment details are undisclosed. We learn from independent sources that the investment could be in the range of $8-10 million. Vibhor Mehra, Principal, SAIF Partners, is joining the board of One97.
The company provides telecom value added services to enterprises and consumers, and also powers IVR services of corporates. It’s probably one of the two VAS companies (the other being OnMobile) that owns servers at the telco’s premises.
One97 was founded in 2000 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, a first generation entrepreneur. This is the first major round of investment in the company, which will use the capital to scale up operations.
Says SAIF Partners’ Mehra: “We had been looking at VAS companies in India for the last two and a half years. Finally, our search ended at One97 in last November.” It took three months to close the investment.
Mehra finds synergy in One97 with the fund’s at least half a dozen other investments in the same space in China and Korea. “We want to take One97’s voice capability to China,” says Mehra. Mehra is more upbeat about VAS enablers like One97 than pure content plays. “Content companies’ business models are always susceptible to being squeezed by operators,” says Mehra.
Commenting on the investment, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, MD, One97, said: “One97 seeks to devote resources towards technical capacity building, strengthening investment in human capital, creation of intellectual property, accessing global VAS markets and building wider infrastructure platforms for future growth.”
OnMobile is a large player in the same space. The company last year raised $27.8 million from Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and Polygon Investment Partners in the second round of funding at a valuation of $200 million.
SAIF Partners’ past investments in digital media companies include MakeMyTrip.com, JustDial and Sify Ltd which it exited in 2005.