MUMBAI: Bollywood and South Asian content distributor Hungama.com is one of the ten beneficiaries to receive strategic investment totaling $40 million from Intel Capital, the global investment and M&A organisation of Intel Corporation.
The investment was announced at Intel Capital Global Summit, a three-day conclave that was held in California from 1-3 October.
Intel‘s other investments include Box (secure content sharing platform), FocalTech (North American integrated circuit design house), Jelli (social radio platform), LIFO Interactive (social game developer), NewAer (mobile proximity platform), PagPop (e-payment platform), Tier 3 (cloud services provider), Transmension (3-D game developer) and UUCun (mobile advertising provider).
It needs to be noted here that global marketing communications company JWT had acquired 51 per cent stake in Hungama Digital in June this year.
While Intel Capital did not disclose financial details of each investment, the company said the investment is designed to help these companies grow to the next level.
Intel Capital has been investing in India since 1998. It has invested over $300 million in 80+ companies across 10 cities in India.
"Business deals happen when Intel Capital brings together our vast global network with our portfolio company innovators," said Intel Capital president of and Intel executive vice president Arvind Sodhani.
"Our annual Global Summit and the ongoing Intel Capital Technology Days provide our portfolio companies with unmatched access to the decision-making executives critical to revenue-generating sales or partnerships. The 10 new investments in innovative companies announced today stand to benefit greatly from these longstanding company-building resources."
Indian company Hungama.com, which received an undisclosed sum from Intel Capital, is India‘s leading digital entertainment company that launched India‘s first and largest on-demand digital entertainment storefront. The storefront has over 2 and half million pieces of content across genres and languages, in the form of music tracks, movies, music videos & mobile content.
Hungama Movies has over 5000 Bollywood, Hollywood, Regional Indian Movies and Television Series available in both HD and SD quality, powered by Intel Insider.
With over 20 million users, the website is accessible from PCs, mobiles, tablets, connected TVs and other connected devices. Consumers can enjoy all this content via download and streaming.
Intel Capital, APAC and Japan MD Sudheer Kuppam said of the investment, "Hungama.com is another great example of an innovative Indian company. It has become India‘s largest on-demand Digital Entertainment storefront, which serves audio, video and imagery to South Asians across the world.
We‘ve been aware of Hungama.com‘s success for some time, and we‘re excited about working with the company to develop the brand and building upon the success it has found in India by taking the venture global."
Hungama.com chairman Neeraj Roy said, "We have been working with Intel Corp over the last few years. As a company we are delighted to have Intel Capital partner with us on the Hungama.com opportunity. Hungama.com is the only platform agnostic digital entertainment storefront that caters to over 1.5 billion South Asians worldwide, via mobile, internet, connected devices, DTH and retail."
As per Hungama.com, it has partnerships with over 400 content creators, record labels, studios, broadcasters, game publishers and has licensed worldwide exclusive digital rights to over half a million music and video titles. It serves content to consumers in 47 countries across mobile, internet, IPTV services and has more than 150 partners across the world.
