Instamedia Network, an India-based software service to create content, has gained $4m from the Times of India Group.
The strategic investment by the subsidiary of media conglomerate Bennett Coleman will increase the number of writers and its technology. Instamedia, which operates the Instablogs platform, is expected to launch local sites targeting Europe and the US, which makes up more than 60% of its traffic.
Satyan Gajwani, director of business development at the Times, will join Instamedia’s board. He said: "The Instamedia deal is very much core to how we perceive our digital strategy. On one hand, we are fully committed and only growing our internal, digital projects and prospects, and if anything, we are only increasing our investment towards these ideas. But, on the other hand, much of the emerging digital landscape is driven not by large media companies, but by innovative startups doing great things. We saw that potential in Instamedia, and wanted to be a part of it.
"We are certainly open and excited to similar types of deals, whereby we enable and empower the entrepreneur to fully realize their potential, without us leading the show. Great companies are run by great teams, and we don’t want to get in the way of that, so we will absolutely be considering more opportunities to invest rather than just acquire. We also think we can help add value by sharing experiences and insight we’ve gained, having been in the digital industry for nearly 15 years, and by having a really diverse set of employees. The ecosystem in India is still very young, and venture funding is hard to come by, or comes with onerous terms. We hope that by participating in the landscape, we can help make it thrive and become more competitive.
Times’s last public strategic investment was in July 2008 when it acquired a 50% stake in Webnotions Books India, a local subsidiary of US Webnotions that used the brand http://www.a1books.co.in