Indian home shopping business Homeshop18 has closed a $30 million funding round as it edges closer to an IPO.
Reuters reported in April of 2012 that the Mumbai, India-based online retailer is eying a $100 million public offering. And this infusion of growth capital is a sure sign that the company is moving in that direction.
Homeshop18 claims to be the largest home shopping and e-commerce business in India. It launched the first home shopping channel in 2008, and sells everything from mobile phones to apparel.
“We are now on the throes of our next phase of growth, and we believe OCP Asia’s investment will help put us on an accelerated path of growth,” said CEO Sundeep Malhotra, in a statement.
The company is poised to take advantage of the rapid growth of India’s online commerce market. The country’s rising middle class and urban population is spending big on products at discounted rates, and is increasingly active on the Internet.
India has 52 million active Internet users and 40 percent of them have shopped online, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India.
Hedge fund manager OCP Asia has invested $15 Million into the company, matched by an equal contribution from mass media company Network18. The terms of the deal stipulate that Network18 will remain the majority stakeholder in HomeShop18.
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