Singapore-based venture capital firm Jungle Ventures has partnered with independent investors to infuse SG$1 million (Rs 3.87 crore) into Singapore-based mobile media solutions provider Cinemacraft, founded by Indian-origin entrepreneur Sandeep Casi.
Other investors in this funding round include Jayesh Parekh (founder of Sony Entertainment Television), Jai Maroo (director, Shemaroo Entertainment), Devesh Chetty (ex-CEO, RGM Media) and Takuro Wakabayashi (from Xseed Partners).
Cinemacraft’s flagship product is a proprietary, Cloud-based interactive media broadcast platform (and player) that ensures consistent, high quality delivery of content across a multitude of mobile devices and networks. The company also provides Platform API to third parties to deploy its innovative media solutions.
Based in Tokyo, Cinemacraft’s founder Casi is an angel investor as well, focusing on media technologies. He is also the co-founder and board member of TiE, Japan. TiE is world’s largest non-profitable organisation, fostering entrepreneurship globally.
“Jungle Ventures’ interest in Cinemacraft helped us secure more investors. This round of funding will be used for further product development and early rollouts across our core markets such as Japan, Indonesia and India,” Casi commented on the investment.
Jungle Ventures focuses on early-stage investments (seed, incubation and series A funding) and business-building infrastructure for start-ups and entrepreneurial teams in the region. The current investment came from its inaugural fund, which will target early experiments, entrepreneurial teams and start-ups. It further plans to focus on significant investments in micro themes that impact consumer behaviour in their target geographies. The firm will also look into sectors like media & entertainment, digital consumerism, travel & hospitality, human capital management, education and design.
Prior to launching this fund, founders of Jungle Ventures founded or angel-invested in companies such as SpaceMatrix, One Animation, HolidayIQ (now Wego), Sconce Solutions, Encentuate, Eloqua and ettaminA Studios.
“Our first fund is a sector-agnostic, technology-centric fund that aims to invest in building blocks of the Goliaths of the future. Cinemacraft is laying the foundation for a video-powered interactive media network in Asia and we are very excited to be part of this,” said Amit Anand, Managing Partner of Jungle Ventures.
