Info Edge (India) Ltd, the operator of portals such as Naukri.com and marriage platform Jeevan Sathi, has announced an investment in two companies via IE Venture Fund I, its investment vehicle that focusses on technology-based startups.
The investments will be made in Fanbuff Esports India Pvt. Ltd, which operates e-sports community engagement platform Fanclash, and the Intellihealth Solutions Pvt. Ltd-operated telehealth platform Truemeds.
Fanclash will receive Rs 3.5 crore (around $461,421 at current exchange rates) from IE Venture Fund I. In return, Info Edge will acquire 3,077 series seed compulsorily convertible preference shares at a face value of Rs 10 and a premium of Rs 11,364.7.
Following its investment, the fund will hold 20% of Fanclash’s parent company on a fully converted and diluted basis.
Fanbuff Esports, which was set up in January this year, focusses on engagement around popular gaming titles such as Free Fire, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Counter Strike.
The investment will help support Fanclash to grow its business in India, Info Edge said in a stock-exchange filing
Meanwhile, the Mumbai-based Truemeds will receive an investment of Rs 3.7 crore (around $487,788) from the IE Venture Fund, with a similar aim of helping it grow its business operations in the country.
For its investment, Info Edge will pick up 24,980 seed CCP shares in the Intellihealth Solutions-operated Truemeds, at a face value and premium of Rs 10 and Rs 1,468.79. Following this, the Noida-based Info Edge will hold a 17.80% stake in Truemeds on a fully diluted and converted basis.
Truemeds, which was set up in February last year, operates as a telehealth platform that focusses on selling substitute medicines to consumers.
The platform works with doctors to advise consumers about substitute medicines to reduce their overall medical expenses. It reported an unaudited turnover of Rs 1 crore for the 2019-’20 financial year, per Info Edge’s filing.
Shares of Info Edge were trading 2.82% up at Rs 2,382.45 apiece at the time of writing this report.
Info Edge’s fund and bets
The Rs 100 crore IE Venture Fund I invests in companies that provide technology to create, market and distribute products and services. The typical sweet spot of the fund is said to be between $500,000 and $5 million, though it may also invest outside this range.
The Noida-headquartered company has also made several investments in startups across sectors as part of its larger strategy of maintaining a presence across the country’s growing internet and frontier services ecosystem.
In March, it agreed to invest another Rs 8 crore (around $1.06 million) in education services startup Univariety, taking its stake to 37.9%. Earlier, Info Edge invested Rs 12.5 crores, translating into a 29.62% stake, in the Hyderabad-based company in December 2017.
In February, Info Edge invested in Sunrise Mentors Pvt. Ltd, a Delhi-based company that operates online learning platform CodingNinjas.
One of its major investments is in food delivery and restaurant search platform Zomato, which earlier in January acquired Uber Technologies Inc's food delivery business, Uber Eats, in India.
Other bets it has made include education-technology startup Adda247, digital logistics platform Shipsy, Happily Unmarried Marketing Pvt. Ltd, and Greytip Software Pvt. Ltd.
