SET to take on rivals Star and Zee - Huge cash inflow for VCs from Google and Reliance

By Subhankar Kundu @ Wednesday, July 09, 2008 8:27 AM

Section - Business/Financials

It’s party time for venture capital (VC) funding companies in India. With big players like Google, SAP, Reliance and Motorola raising huge sums, they are gearing up for serious investment.

A fund named Seefund, managed and founded by Pravin Gandhi, is looking to raise a second stage of funding of $30 million. The fund is backed by Google, Reliance Anil Ambani Dhirubai Group (ADAG) and Motorola, along with US VC companies Sierra Ventures and Mayfield. The fund is all set to invest some $10-50 million in each firm it picks. Seefund plans to invest in start-ups in media, mobile, internet, retail and consumer-facing businesses.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has given permission to raise a $36 million investment in Multi Screen Media (MSM) which is better known as Sony Entertainment Television (SET India). MSM owns television channels including SET India, SET Max, SAB TV and SET Pix.

In competitive mood, SET has been desperate for the cash infow to cope up with the competition presented by rivals Star TV and Zee. This investment would also help the company to pay off the $1 billion which it spent to acquire the TV rights to the high-profile Indian Premier League (IPL) for ten years. X