NDTV Raises Funding For Its New Ecommerce Portals At A Combined Valuation Of $80 Mn

NDTV has raised an undisclosed amount in funding at a combined valuation close to $80 Mn for its new ecommerce ventures in Gadgets and Car & Bike led by a group of investors.

The exact amount of funding has been left undisclosed, however, as per our sources, NDTV has raised more than $20 Mn in this round.

The investors who participated in this round of funding includes, Inflexionpoint (Cofounded by John Scully, former Apple CEO), Pramod Bhasin (Founder, Genpact), Sixth Sense Ventures (Founded by Nikhil Vora), Vindi Banga (Former Chairman, Unilever), Hiro Mashita (Founder and Director of M&S Partners) and other HNIs.

This news comes in just a few weeks after its first ecommerce venture, IndianRoots had closed $5 Mn in its Series A round of funding at valuation of $85 Mn from KJS Group. The funds were raised by Avendus Wealth Management. IndianRoots had clocked a GMV INR 21.7 Cr. this quarter, a growth of 550% over the same quarter last year.

For NDTV, Digital and ecommerce revenues now account for 21% of total group topline (up from 13% in the same period last year).

The New Ecommerce Ventures

Earlier, in a BSE filing, NDTV had mentioned that it is launching ecommerce ventures in the fields of food, auto and gadgets.

Gadgets 360°: It will provide a curated marketplace for exclusive launches of mobile phones and other electronic gadgets. Gadgets 360° (currently known as NDTV Gadgets) is India’s most viewed gadgets portal with over 20m unique visitors every month. Gadgets 360 is now valued close to $50 Mn.

Fifth Gear Auto: It is a new auto portal leveraging on the massive following of NDTVs car and bike programming. The current auto site has proven the credibility of the brand in this space, having become one of the fastest growing auto portals since its launch, a little over a year ago. The venture has raised funds close to a valuation of $30 Mn.

The company is yet to rebrand the two sites, as currently, the two run on the NDTV sub domains.

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