Dealsandyou.com Raises $17M in Latest Funding Round

The latest in daily deal site funding in India is here!

Smile Group’s deal site Dealsandyou.com has reportedly raised $17 Million (Rs. 84.11 crore) in its second round of funding that closed a few weeks ago. The funding was led by the Mayfield Fund and Northwest Venture Partners, with Nokia Growth Partners and Intel Capital also contributing.  Exact details of the deal weren’t revealed, but according to Business Standard, the stake was sold between 18 and 20 percent, which values the company at $85 million.

How will the funds be used by Dealsandyou.com? They plan to rev up their focus on customers, technology and infrastructure development. The company plans on investing in mobility, ERP-CRM and web-based technologies, along with IT infrastructure that will improve customer service.

Dealsandyou.com is one of India’s top ten e-commerce websites that pulls in over 1.3 million individual visitors per month.  Formerly known as Wanamo.com, the site was acquired by Germany-based Group Buying Global AG and Smile Interactive group in June 2010.

Dealsand you.com currently covers 12 cities, features local deals along with national deals across the country of India. The website has 4 million registered users and is adding up to a half million per month.

CEO Guarav Kachru describes the steps his company is making: “We have spent a lot of time and made a set of changes across the board along with constant innovations to build a sustainable model to scale up. Now, you will see those changes fructifying in the form of new products that we will roll out in the next few months.”

Parent company Smile Group is also confident in the company: “Each of our investors is a great addition to our syndicate, and their backgrounds and experience will benefit our company as we enter our next phase of growth” said Harish Bahl, Founder and Chairman.

More about the investors:

Nokia Growth Partners is a global venture capital fund by the world’s largest handset maker, that manages $250 million and invests in primarily mobile companies. In July, it bought 3.51 per cent stake in Network 18 Media & Investments Ltd, as part of a ‘share-swap’ deal. Prior to that, it led an $8 million round of funding in classifieds site Quikr.com.

Chipmaker Intel’s global investment arm has been much more active in striking small deals in India. Recently it announced an investment of $20 million in six Indian companies.

Mayfield fund has invested in Tejas Networks and Consim Info (owner of Bharatmatrimony.com), while Norwest Venture Partners is a US-based venture capital firm that has invested in Komli Media, Quikr and Sulekha.

The Indian deal market has been expanding and growing rapidly. Other popular deals sites include: Rediff’s Deal Ho Jaye, Times Internet (Indiatimes)’s Timesdeal.com, Snapdeal.com, Dealsandyou.com, Mydala.com, Koovs.com, Groupon India (Crazeal.com) and various others.

NVP India Managing Director Niren Shah, describes the increasing popularity of deal sites: “Increased Internet penetration combined with a younger tech-savvy population with a higher propensity to consume is a tipping point for e-commerce in India. In particular, the online deals category is a large and rapidly growing model that has already proven to be highly attractive to merchants and consumers alike. As India trends to a more organized consumption market, we believe the merchant availability for online deal sites will only increase.”

Visit their website: http://dealsandyou.com

Source: Tech Circle