Investee company: Apalya Technologies
Investor: IDG Ventures India & Qualcomm Ventures, $3 million
Seed investment in 2008: GP Group, $0.5 million

Hyderabad-based Apalya, which aggregates video content and delivers it on mobile phones, has got a $3 million early-stage investment from IDG Ventures India and Qualcomm Ventures. “The convergence of data and video is on the rise, and we felt the need to raise further investments,” says Vamshi Reddy, Co-Founder and CEO
of Apalya.

Both venture-capital investors are heartened by the ready platform for mobile TV and the auctioning of 3G licences, which is due to happen soon. “For a telecom start-up, the distinctness of Aplaya’s business idea is impressive,” says TC Meenakshisundaram, Managing Director of IDG Ventures. “There is a commoditisation threat, with telecom start-ups usually focusing on ringtones and wallpapers. Apalya has its back-end infrastructure and partners ready for mobile TV.”

Founded in 2006, Apalya began forming partnerships with operators (Idea Cellular in late-2007) and expanded this network to telecom service providers. “We’ve focused on progressive formats that can enable a smooth user experience, even on low bandwidth connections,” says Reddy of Apalya Technologies, which has a team of 50 people.

Investee company: Vdopia
Investor: Nexus Venture Partners,$4 million
Seed investment in 2008: Nexus Venture Partners, $3 million

Vdopia, an online video-ad platform, has received its second round of funding from Nexus Venture Partners (See story on page 84). Suvir Sujan, co-founder of Nexus Venture Partners, sits on the Board of Vdopia. As part of the funding in the early stages, silicon-valley entrepreneur Rohit Sharma also invested in the start-up, and now serves as its CEO.

Investee company: Eka Software
Investor: Nexus Venture Partners,$10 million
Seed investment in 2004: GP Group, $6 million

Eka, a software solutions provider for enterprises in the commodity trade market, received its second round of funding from Nexus Venture Partners. Its software products help large clients manage purchase contracts across buyers in several locations, apart from ensuring regulatory compliance and supplier delivery.

Its 15 clients are all overseas players, and Eka now seeks to expand in India in the metals and FMCG industries. “Implementations in our captive client companies (customers of Eka’s clients) take our buyer base to over 30,” says Manav Garg, founder and CEO of Eka. Globally, it is also looking at the energy sector. This is the third deal for Nexus Venture Partners. It is looking to complete five deals by the year-end, three of which will be late-stage investments. In Eka Software Solutions, it has a minority stake with board representation.