The Kamla Bhatt Show: Weekly News Update - Yahoo!, Google Expanding in India

03:14 | Kamla Bhatt | Oct 3rd, 2006 12:33pm |

Mobile value-added services company OnMobile is reported to have raised $35 million in a new round of funding. According to The Economic Times “OnMobile Systems seems to have closed a fresh round of funding - around $35m - from a group of investors, including Goldman Sachs.” OnMobile’s CEO Arvind Rao confirmed the deal but declined to share the details, according to reports. OnMobile, a value-added-service based in Bangalore, is a spin-off from Infosys Technologies of Bangalore.

Bangalore-based Sonata Software acquired a 50.1 percent stake in TUI InfoTec, an IT Company headquartered in Hanover, Germany. This is a deal worth Euro 18 million. TUI Info Tec, which is the IT service provider for German shipping and tourism company TUI AG and its subsidiaries in Germany, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe. Sonata is listed on the Indian Stock Exchange.

Google Inc. is looking around to acquire start-ups in India. According to The Hindu, Google is interested in acquiring start-ups in voice and SMS-based advertising space. The paper reports that when contacted Google refused to comment on the report. Google opened its research and development office in India in 2004, and has since expanded its operations, with offices in Hyderabad, New Delhi and Mumbai.

Last week Yahoo! India launched search marketing solutions for the Indian advertisers and marketers. Sundeep Deshpande, general manager, Yahoo! India, commented that the project is targeted to tap small and medium businesses. Yahoo! India plans to launch the service in various languages in the near future.

In another Yahoo! India related news, Neville Taraporewalla has left Yahoo India. Mr. Taraporwalla was the director and country general manager of Yahoo! India. He joined Yahoo as a director of sales about four years ago.

And finally, online matchmaking company BharatMatrimony launched a new feature to its service. Relationship Express is a blog where you can send in your question on different subjects including marriage, fitness, legal and health. Your questions will be answered by an appropriate expert. Bharatmatrimony recently received its first round of funding from Canaan Partners and Yahoo! recently launched a blog on relationships.

Tags: OnMobile, Sonata Software, TUI InfoTec, Google, Yahoo! India, Neville Taraporewalla, BharatMatrimony

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006 at 12:33 pm and is filed under Enterprise 2.0, India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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