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One97, IndiaMART, Global bag $23 mn funding

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI, India, January 14, 2009 - Intel Capital, Intel Corporation's global investment organization, today announced an investment of US$23 million in three Indian companies:

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One97 Communications, one of the largest private independent providers of telecom-managed value added services in India; existing investors also participated. IndiaMART.com, the largest online B2B marketplace connecting Indian suppliers with domestic and international buyers.

Global Talent Track (GTT), a vocational educational institute; investment co-led by Helion Venture Partners. Individual investment amounts were not disclosed. 

The funding will come from the $250 million Intel Capital India Technology Fund, established in December 2005.  This fund invests in Indian technology companies to help stimulate local technological innovation and the continued growth of India's information technology industry.

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“These investments demonstrate Intel Capital’s unwavering commitment to investing in technology innovation globally,” said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and executive vice-president of Intel. “This year also marks ten years of successful Intel Capital investments in India, underlining our long-term focus on this important emerging market.”

“Since 1998, Intel Capital has invested in approximately 60 Indian companies across 10 cities, showing the importance we place on fostering entrepreneurship and technology innovation in the country” added Sudheer Kuppam, Intel Capital managing director for India, Japan, Australasia and South-East Asia.  

“Our latest investments in One97 Communications, IndiaMART.com and GTT reinforce our continued interest to develop the country further through support of novel and exciting business models.”

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Intel Capital continues to demonstrate its stage-agnostic investing style by supporting successful companies in various stages of growth. Intel Capital plans to work closely with each company and offer its company building capabilities such as customer introductions, global reach, brand recognition, and technology expertise.

Investment in One97 Communications Pvt. Ltd.

Founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma (who is also the Managing Director) in 2000 and headquartered in NOIDA, One97 Communications Pvt. Ltd. is the largest private independent provider of telecom managed value added services in India, covering the entire telecom VAS value chain - carriers, consumer and enterprise. It is also the only private independent company addressing the rapidly growing mobile VAS platform segment in India with deployment for all leading Indian telcos. One97 Communications will use Intel Capital funds to scale up its operations and increase sales and marketing in India and abroad.

Investment in IndiaMART.com

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IndiaMART.com is an online B2B marketplace connecting Indian suppliers with domestic and global buyers. The company has a presence in over 100 cities pan-India and focus on various verticals including apparel, chemicals, handicrafts, gems, electronics and engineering components, industrial products, furnishings and more.

IndiaMART.com will use Intel Capital funds to grow market share by launching marketing initiatives, expanding service offerings, extending reach into new markets and geographies, and evaluating potential strategic opportunities.

Investment in Global Talent Track

Global Talent Track (GTT) addresses the current gap in the demand and supply of trained manpower, providing a range of short and long term courses in a number of vocational fields. GTT also works closely with universities and industry to design career oriented learning content, provide the technology platform appropriate to host the content and manage the entire learning delivery process. Founded in 2008 by Dr. Uma Ganesh a veteran of the Education industry and with luminaries like Dr. Ganesh Natarajan of Zensar, Kiran Karnik of NASSCOM and Prof Bob Eccles of Harvard Business School on its advisory board, GTT will use Intel Capital funds to start rolling out vocational education services in India and abroad.

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