One97 and SAIF Partners launch joint initiative to invest in start-up companies

One97 Communications Limited and SAIF Partners today announced a joint initiative to invest in seed and early-to-growth-stage companies in the mobile value added services (MVAS) space in India.

They have earmarked between $0.5 million and $5 million from a total planned allocation of $100 million for the investments.

"India's telecom market is witnessing an influx of growth in mobile value added services. 3G, BWA and large subscriber base of mobile consumers provides a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to create new, innovative high growth mobile VAS companies that can serve such large mobile subscriber base," Vijay Shekhar Sharma, managing director, One97, said.

"Through our joint initiative, we will not only be able to provide necessary capital but offer our much required support in the form of experience, expertise, relationships and resources for these companies," he added.

One97 has earlier invested in a mobile advertising and analytics space company (Oorja Mobile Services Private Limited) and a remote device management and security service (WaveSecure, a firm developed by TenCube Pte Ltd of Singapore).

Ravi Adusumalli, general partner, SAIF, said: "We sincerely believe that One97 and SAIF can add tremendous value to the mobile space and support game changing companies."

One97 Communications Limited, a mobile value added service company, provides customer lifecycle management and mobile marketing solutions to enterprises.

SAIF, an Asian private equity firm, focuses on early stage and growth-oriented investments in financial services, IT, telecom, internet, media and consumer services sectors.