To focus on becoming ‘Entertainment Destination of India’
Mumbai, July 5, 2016: Mumbai based Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., which owns and operates BookMyShow, has raised over INR 550 crores in its fourth and largest single financing round. The round was led by US based Stripes Group, and saw participation from all existing investors - Network 18, Accel Partners, and SAIF Partners to further strengthen BookMyShow’s position as the largest online entertainment ticketing platform in the country. This fresh infusion of funds comes at a time when BookMyShow has entered new international territories such as Indonesia and looks to transform into the preferred ‘Entertainment Destination’ within India.
Ashish Hemrajani, CEO & Co-Founder, BookMyShow commented, “We are excited to welcome Stripes Group on board as our newest partner, which comes with a wealth of experience in digital entertainment asset. With BookMyShow being their first investment in the Indian market, alongside the display of confidence by our existing investors Network 18, Accel Partners and SAIF Partners, this is an overall testament to how they believe in our roadmap for growth and innovation within the entertainment space.”
“These funds will be utilized towards rolling out exclusive entertainment experiences on BookMyShow, enhancing the overall offering for our users, while we hopefully build out a 360 degree gateway of entertainment in India”, added Hemrajani.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with three very special founders - Ashish, Rajesh and Parikshit – as well as a world class team and group of investors at BookMyShow. We look forward to sharing our operating and investing experience with online transactional and ticketing businesses, as well as digital media, to help the Company continue to scale.” said Stripes Group Managing Partner Dan Marriott. “With a ubiquitous and trusted brand and history of capital efficient growth, BookMyShow is truly a standout story. Already the clear leader in movie and live event ticketing, BookMyShow is uniquely positioned to tap into India’s digital advertising and entertainment markets, which are among the fastest growing globally.”
“BookMyShow’s team has shown great drive and foresight to create something unique for customers, partners and shareholders. This additional funding will help them expand even further. We are proud to have been their partners”, said Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman, Network 18.
Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel Partners said, “It has been an extra-ordinary journey since we invested in BookMyShow, 4 years ago. Their innovative customer experiences across both events and movies, have been hugely appreciated. This new funding will help them in enhancing these experiences with original and contextual entertainment content."
Deepak Gaur, Managing Director, SAIF Partners said, “We are very excited to be partners on BookMyShow’s terrific journey to be India’s leading entertainment platform enabled by technology and strong focus on customer experience. The current round of investment will further allow the company to make key investments in newer domains and enhancing the depth and coverage of entertainment needs of Indian consumers.”
BMR Legal served as the legal advisor and Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. during this round.
About BookMyShow
BookMyShow, (Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.), is India’s largest online entertainment ticketing platform that allows users to book tickets for movies, plays, sports and live events through its website, mobile app and mobile site. Founded in Mumbai (India) in 1999 and re-launched in 2007, BookMyShow is now present in over 350 towns and cities across India, currently meeting the entertainment demands of millions of customers. For more information, please visit www.bookmyshow.com.
About Stripes Group
Based in New York City, Stripes Group is a leading growth equity firm that invests in Internet, Digital Media, Software, and Branded Consumer Products businesses around the world. For over a decade, Stripes Group has been partnering with market-leading companies with proven business models that are generating exceptional growth. For more information on Stripes Group, visit www.stripesgroup.com.
About Network18
Network18 Group is a media and entertainment group with interests in television, internet, films, e-commerce, magazines, mobile content and allied businesses. Through its subsidiary, TV18 Broadcast Ltd. [BSE: 532800, NSE: TV18BRDCST] ("TV18"), the group operates news channels such as CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, CNN-News18 and IBN7. TV18 also operates a joint venture with Viacom called Viacom18, which houses a portfolio of popular entertainment channels such as Colors, Colors HD, Rishtey, MTV India, MTV Indies, Comedy Central, Vh1, Nick, Sonic, Nick Jr and Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the group's filmed entertainment business. TV18 has also forayed into the Indian factual entertainment space through a joint venture with A+E Networks and operates History TV18. In the regional space, the group operates a Gujarati business news channel - CNBC Bajar, a Marathi general news channel - IBN Lokmat and operates ten regional news channels under the ETV umbrella and five regional entertainment channels under the Colors brand. The group also operates a 24 hour Indian news channel in English - News18, targeting global audiences. TV18 and Viacom18 have formed a strategic joint venture called IndiaCast, a multi-platform 'content asset monetization' entity that drives domestic and international channel distribution, placement services and content syndication for the bouquet of channels from the group and third parties. Through 'Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.' [BSE: 532798, NSE: Network18], the group operates its digital, publishing and e-commerce assets including moneycontrol.com, ibnlive.com, in.com, news18.com and firstpost.com. 'Network18' also operates e-commerce properties like HomeShop18 and bookmyshow.com and publishes Forbes India, the nation's first local edition of a foreign news magazine in collaboration with Forbes Media. In addition, the group operates Network18 Publishing, a player in the special interest publishing space, which publishes magazines such as Overdrive, Better Photography and Better Interiors. 'Network18' also has strategic investments in Yatra, Colosceum, Topper, 24X7 Learning and Ubona. For more information, log on to www.network18online.com
About Accel
Accel is a leading early and growth-stage venture capital firm powering a global community of entrepreneurs. Accel backs entrepreneurs who have what it takes to build a world-class, category-defining business. Founded in 1983, Accel brings more than three decades of experience building and supporting hundreds of companies. Accel has backed a number of iconic global platforms, including Atlassian, Braintree, BookMyShow, Cloudera, Dropbox, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, FreshDesk, MuSigma, Myntra, Ola-TaxiForSure, Perfint, Slack, Spotify and others. For more information, please visit us at accel.com, or on facebook.com/accel
About SAIF Partners
SAIF Partners is an Asia-focused, sector and stage agnostic fund with over $4Bn capital under management. SAIF was founded in 2001 and has invested across sectors like internet, ITeS/KPO, consumer products and services, financial services and healthcare. SAIF has a portfolio of over 50 companies in India, which includes MakeMyTrip, JustDial, Paytm, BookMyShow, Speciality Restaurants, Manpasand Juices, Rivigo, Swiggy and Urbanladder.