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Archana Venkat

To expand operations, widen offerings

MR SUBHANKER SARKER, COO, Seventymm, handing over the honorary membership to actor Rohini at the launch of the company's movie rental service in Chennai on Wednesday. — Bijoy Ghosh

Chennai June 6 Movie DVD/VCD rental company Seventymm plans to go in for a third round of venture capital funding this year, mainly to support its expansion plans.

The company, which recently acquired New Delhi-based competitor Madhouse for an undisclosed sum, has raised about $9 million (about Rs 40 crore) since 2005 through two separate rounds of venture capital funding led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Matrix Partners India.

"Many venture capitalists including Matrix Partners have shown interest (to fund the company in future)," Mr Anuj Mukherjee, Vice President-Marketing, Seventymm, told Business Line on the sidelines of a press conference organised to announce the launch of its Chennai operations.

Besides expanding operations to Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune and Ahmedabad over the next three years, Seventymm also plans to widen its offerings to include digital movie downloads and distribution of games and educational content.

"We are targeting one million subscribers and $100 million in revenues by 2010," Mr Subhanker Sarker, Chief Operating Officer of the company, said at the press conference.

The company has about 25,000 subscribers in Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai where it started operating a year ago and roped in 400 subscribers in Chennai during its beta testing phase. It plans to spend close to Rs 8 crore on brand-building this year, Mr Sarker said.

Seventymm ties up with movie distributors and pays a licence fee for renting out original VCDs and DVDs once they are released in the market.

It offers free pick-up and delivery of movie VCDs/DVDs on a subscription basis, starting at Rs 199 a month, whereby one is eligible to rent four movies. Additionally, subscribers need to pay a refundable deposit and registration fees. Seventymm's collection has over 15,000 movies and documentary titles spread across English and 12 Indian languages.

To Strengthen position

Our New Delhi Bureau reports: Seventymm has acquired Madhouse Media, a movie rental company which has a strong presence in New Delhi and Chandigarh. Seventymm said that the acquisition would help strengthen its market position in organised rental business in these cities.

"The board of Seventymm is excited about this development and believes that it will further strengthen our strategy and execution robustness," said Mr Raghav Kher, CEO and Founder, Senventymm, in a press release.

The co-founders of Madhouse, Mr Sameer Guglani and Ms Nandini Hirianniah, have joined the Seventymm management team.

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