HomeShop18 raises 100 crore
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HomeShop18 raises Rs.100 crore
Noida: TV18 Home Shopping Network, a teleshopping channel from the Network18 Group, has raised 100 crore from its existing investors, SAIF Partners, Network18 and GS Shopping, reports VCCircle. They are further in talks with some investors to raise 200 crore. HomeShop18 was launched on April 9, 2008 as India's first 24 hour Home Shopping TV channel. It offers innovative, differentiated and demonstrative retail experiences on TV and internet with a user base of more than 2.5 million users. It is a venture of the Network18 Group, a media and entertainment group that operates India's business news television channels like CNN- IBN, CNBC TV18 and CNBS Awaaz. It has partnered with the best brand owners in India like Apple, Motorola, Philips, Reebok, Dell, WHirpool, Nokia, Glen, VLCC, Fabindia and many more to provide a value product to its customers. The fund raised will be used for investments in logistics, warehousing and technology. This year, the company is expecting to touch the total sales value to 1,000 crore. They are selling goods over 2 crore per day and although the e-commerce site is less than six months old, it contributes one-third of the total sales, expecting to increase to half of the total sales within next few months. At present, the total consolidated teleshopping segment is estimated to post sales of 2,200 crore annually. SAIF Partners, which is Asia-focused private equity firm with a corpus of $3.5 billion of assets under management, incubated the firm with a startup capital in 2006. It was also the first institutional investor in the company. In 2008, Capital 18 Fund took 75percent stake in the company for $21 million which made it a 75:25 joint venture with SAIF Partners and valued the firm at $28 million. Capital 18 Fund is a private investment arm of Network 18 Group. In 2009, GS Home Shopping invested $23.5 million along with Network18 Media and Investments.