Reliance Entertainment’s Social Networking Portal Big Adda Goes Live

Reliance Entertainment’s social networking portal "Big Adda” has gone live. The company ran a series of polls over the past few months, ever since ContentSutra broke the story of it’s impending launch, asking users to select logos and templates.

On the face of it, the site has addas (forums), photos, videos and blogs. Nothing spectacular so far. Looks like they didn’t go with my choice of logo. (Bah!) Update: It’s a closed beta, by invitation only, I’m told.

However, there is an overview available here. More importantly, do take a look at the terms and conditions, particularly the parts in bold, dealing with user generated content. An excerpt:

You are solely responsible for the content...that you post on or through the BigAdda Website, and any material or information that you transmit to other Members and for your interactions with other Users...

BigAdda makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the Content or to the accuracy and reliability of the Content or any material or information that you transmit to other Members.

Orkut, MingleBox, DesiMartini, Fropper, now BigAdda - Ohhh - Please No! btw Myspace entered china last week, targeting India soon - Please!!!!

Report On Opportunities In Indian Electronics Manufacturing

If you are an investor or if you are a potential entrepreneur looking to start up in electronic manufacturing, the UK-based consulting firm Plan B Manufacturing has released a free 83-page report titled - "Indian Electronics Manufacturing: Where are the startup opportunities?"

Download here (3MB)

Social Networking Site Minglebox Receives $7 Million In Funding Fron Sequoia Capital

Indian social networking site Minglebox has received $7 million in funding from Sequoia Capital India. Minglebox was started by three IIT Delhi alumni - Kavita Iyer, Sanjay Aggarwal and Sushma Abburi, who have previously worked in companies like Yahoo, i2, ICICI, Wipro, HLL and Infosys. R.Ramaraj, ex-CEO and co-founder of Sify has joined the board of Minglebox.

The company has apparently adopted a different approach to populating its social network - they’ve focused on creating communities for colleges and trying to emulate a college hangout online, which is one of the things people use Orkut (yeah, we keep going back to Orkut, don’t we?) for.

Minglebox has a bunch of other usual stuff: blogs, photos and videos. Most videos are from YouTube, and there is (again) some copyrighted Bollywood content embedded from YouTube...I wonder who’s liable in this case - the user who uploads; YouTube, which publishes and facilitates sharing; or Minglebox, where the video is embedded...that’s a problem that many social networks with video content are facing today.

Canaan Partners, SVB Invest $3.1 Million In Remote Computer Support Company iYogi

Canaan Partners, along with SVB Financial Group, has invested $3.1 million in a Delhi-based computer support startup iYogi. The company provides live computer support on the phone and via remote access for home and small businesses.

The investment will be used to expand iYogi’s service offerings, sales and marketing programs, and to enhance delivery operations in India, a release said. Alok Mittal, Canaan’s Executive Director in India, will join the board of iYogi. This is the second investment in India for Canaan. It had earlier invested $8.5 million in BharatMatrimony.com alongwith Yahoo India.

Canaan is focused on early stage deals or Series A investments in India. iYogi is headquartered in Gurgaon, near Delhi, and provides computer support via phone and remote access for home and small business users globally. It charges $9.99 for a single incident and $89.99 for an annual subscription or unlimited incidents.

--Canaan Partners is close to making its second investment in India after it set up shop in the country last year. The Silicon Valley venture fund has zeroed in on a Delhi-based start-up that provides remote desktop services for US and UK customers. The firm may invest about $2 million-$5 million. A Business Standard report says the firm has invested in an unnamed company. When VC Circle contacted Alok Mittal, Executive Director, Canaan Partners India, he confirmed the development but the deal was yet to be closed. He did not reveal the name of the company or other details. Canaan, along with Yahoo, had last year invested $8.65 million in BharatMatrimony Group.

--Every telecom company is or have demerged their tower businesses, and they are offloading stake to private equity funds. Tata Teleservices (TTSL) is reportedly in talks with Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, besides other private equity players to sell stake. It may sell up to 20 per cent stake in the subsidiary which will hold all wireless towers and other related telecom infrastructure. Temasek already owns under 10 per cent in TTSL. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications have already hived off their tower businesses, but are yet to sell stakes.

--Mobien Technologies, a provider of enterprise mobility solutions for last mile connectivity, is raising venture capital. The company, founded in 2003 by Logitech Systems India, recently launched iNotify, a mobile solution that integrates an organisation's ERP systems with the mobile devices used by field staff. The company has clients like ITC, Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Dr Reddy's. It has recorded revenues of $6,00,000 in FY 2006-07. (Via Business Standard)

Citi, Macquarie And Three Other Foreign Firms In Race For Stake In UTI Securities

A big chunk of stake in broking firm UTI Securities is up for sale. The seller is Securities Trading Corporation of India (STCI), which holds 100 per cent in the company. STCI has put 49 per cent on the block.

There is interest from several foreign broking houses in this semi-government undertaking. Citigroup, Macquarie Bank, Standard Chartered, Societe Generale and Kuwait-based Global Investment House are believed to be in the race, according to a report in Business Standard.

In April 2006, STCI bought 100 per cent stake in UTI Securities for Rs 265 crore last year from Specified Undertaking of UTI (SUUTI), which was the administrator. According to this deal, STCI has a minimum lock-in of three years for 51 per cent stake, which ends in 2008. It can however, hawk the rest any time. Interestingly, STCI prefers a foreign player as a strategic partner. UTI Securities started as an institutional brokerage firm. Now it has moved to retail broking too. It also has an online broking division - Usectrade.com.

Broking business has been a very active sector from the M&A and private equity point of view. Recently, BNP Paribas bought 33.35 per cent stake in Geojit Financial Services for Rs 207 crore. E*Trade and SAIF Partners are investors in IL&FS Investsmart. Citigroup Venture Capital International recently acquired 19.9 per cent stake in Mumbai-based Anand Rathi Securities. General Atlantic, Intel Capital and HSBC Private Equity are investors in Sharekhan. Motilal Oswal Financial Services, which had sold 9.48 per cent stake to New Vernon Private Equity Ltd and Bessemer Venture Partners last year, is going in for an IPO now.

Google Takes An LP Approach In India; Invests In Erasmic And Seedfund

Google is taking an LP approach in India as to investing. The Mountain View-based search giant has invested in two early stage or seed stage funds - Bangalore-based Erasmic Venture Fund and Mumbai-based Seedfund. The amount of investment in both firms is undisclosed.

"While the rush of large amounts of venture capital into India is well-documented, very little of this trickles down to small firms - the early-stage startups. Our effort is to build this gap by investing in these funds,"

said Samir Sood, head (corporate development - South Asia), Google.

Apparently, India is the first country where Google has made a limited partner investment in early stage funds. These funds would essentially look at product innovations in consumer, Internet and mobile services.

New Enterprise Associates Appoints Ben Mathias As VP Of Indian Operations; To Invest $200 Million In India

US venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates has announced that it will invest $200 million in Indian technology sector. The fund has appointed Ben Mathias as Vice President of the Indian operations - under the entity New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. Mathias will work closely with NEA’s US-based technology team. NEA has $8.5 billion in committed capital across 13 funds.

“We have been selectively investing in India for many years and believe the country offers an attractive environment for venture investing,”

said Peter Barris, NEA Managing General Partner.

The fund has investments in Sasken Communications, Telsima, Nevis Networks, Protostar, InSilica and GlobalLogic. NEA also has 20 per cent stake in NEA-IndoUS Ventures, an early venture capital fund started by Vinod Dham and Vani Kola. NEA will invest in early-stage IT investments indirectly through NEA-IndoUS Ventures. NEA’s direct investments will be primarily in mid to late-stage opportunities.

“NEA’s focus in India will be on expanding its investment portfolio, while making returns on our initial investments. We look forward to working with India’s best and brightest entrepreneurs in telecom, media, alternative energy, technology-enabled services and infrastructure,”

said Krishna “Kittu” Kolluri, General Partner.

“Our US-based team which also includes Mark Perry and Ravi Viswanathan, will be
consulting with Ben Mathias (head of Indian ops) to identify opportunities..."

Chrys Capital Sells Global Vantedge To Essar Group's Aegis For $22.5 Mn

It's official now. The Essar Group-owned Aegis has acquired BPO firm Global Vantedge for Rs 100 crore or $22.5 million. Global Vantedge, a 75 per cent of which is owned by private equity fund Chrys Capital, is a US-based credit and receivable management BPO.

Set up in 2001, Global Vantedge employs 1,400 people at in Gurgaon, San Jose and Costa Rica. It has operations in the banking, telecom and automobile verticals. The acquisition is the fourth by Aegis in the past one year. Global Vantedge will add over $25 million in revenues to the BPO business of the group. Aegis is scouting for more buys in the US.

It had earlier acquired Customer First and Orion in India and Technion in the US. In November 2003, Essar and Deutsche Bank had bought 80 per cent stake in Texas-based Aegis for $28 million. Later, the Essar group increased its stake in the company. Last year, Essar delisted Aegis Communications Group (ACG) from over-the-counter bulletin board (OTC BB) of Nasdaq at an equity valuation of $57.4 million.

GVFL Makes Seed Investment Of Rs 8 Million In RapidRadio

Venture capital fund GVFL Ltd has made a seed investment of Rs 8 million ($180,000) in RapidRadio Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a technology start-up spun off from the NirmaLabs incubator program. RapidRadio, set up in 2005, works in the area of RFID (Radio Frequency iIdentification) technology.

Rapid Radio is the sixth investment from the Rs 270 million Gujarat IT Fund of GVFL. Its previous investments include Net4Nuts, Ecube, Icenet, Anupam Globalsoft and Convergelabs from the fund. Rapidradio is GVFL’s first investment in a start-up from an academic incubator program.

“The RapidRadio investment is a new milestone in our endeavor to provide critical seed stage and early stage funding to innovative start-ups that are poised to take knowledge based test-marketed ideas into commercial production. We are now stepping forward into campus incubation programmes to identify and nurture promising ideas and entrepreneurs,”

said Vishnu Varshney, CEO of GVFL Ltd.

Dhaval Kotecha is the CEO of RapidRadio , a friend of mine! Congratz Bro!