Media group Bennett, Coleman and Company (BCC) has taken a stake in India-based e-commerce marketplace ShopClues.com through a $15m advertising-for-equity deal, VCCircle reported on Monday, citing a regulatory filing.
Founded in 2011, ShopClues runs an e-commerce marketplace that connects third-party merchants with consumers in smaller Indian towns and cities often overlooked by other online sellers. It claims to ship more than 3.5 million items each month.
ShopClues raised between $100m and $140m in a January 2016 round led by GIC, the Singaporean government’s sovereign wealth fund, which included Tiger Global Management and Nexus Venture Partners, at a reported $1.1bn valuation.
Tiger Global had previously led the company’s $100m series D round, which also featured existing investors including Nexus and Helion Venture Partners, in 2015. ShopClues also received $7.7m in venture debt from InnoVen Capital in May 2017.
ShopClues’ 2014 series C round reportedly brought in between $15m and $20m from Nexus and Helion, which had contributed to its $10m series B in 2013 alongside Beenos, the e-commerce platform then known as Netprice. Nexus led its $4m series A round in 2012.
BCC, which is also known as Times Group, made its investment through Brand Capital, a subsidiary that provides advertising and brand building services in lieu of equity funding.