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Purvita Chatterjee

"We are now looking at people who can be strategic investors. Being a start-up we would rather have people who understand the business."

Mumbai , Sept. 12

HAVING hit a roadblock in its funding process, the Plugin brand of consumer durable stores promoted by Raymond is now actively scouting for new investors.

Mr Nabankar Gupta, a co-promoter of the Plugin stores, told Business Line, "There is further investment required and we are still looking at whether Raymond or somebody else will get involved in the next round of funding.''

Raymond Ltd has a 60 per cent stake in the venture with the balance divided equally between Mr Gupta and Mr Nitish Tipnis. Mr Gupta had floated the venture when he was working for Raymonds as Group President and whole-time director.

Currently, Mr Gupta has floated his own consultancy outfit under Nobby Brand Architects & Strategic Marketing Consultants.

With nine operational stores in Mumbai, Plugin will now make an appearance in the smaller towns and cities across Maharashtra. "We are looking at upcountry areas across Maharashtra now,'' says Mr Gupta.With an intent to change its retailing structure from franchise to company-owned stores, there are plans to expand the number of stores from the present 9 to 25 stores across the State within the next one year.

Mr Tipnis, a co-promoter in Plugin Sales Ltd, said, "We are still going to have a hub-and-spoke model and there are plans to have 25 stores within the next year after we have completed the next round of funding.''

Mr Tipnis said that since Mumbai is too cluttered the chain plans to open stores in semi-urban areas across Maharashtra which do not have multi-brand stores selling a host of consumer durable brands. Vending a bouquet of brands, which are backed by adequate servicing, Plugin Sales stocks 14 brands ranging from the big Korean brands such as Samsung and LG to the homegrown brand of Videocon.

The company, which had appointed the I-Contract to design its stores, is no longer continuing with the project. I-Contract was in charge of creating the advertising within the stores and interfacing with the advertising and design divisions of its agency.

The purpose behind appointing I-Contract was to give an integrated solutions package in which advertising and design would be treated as add-ons to the total package.

Added Mr Tipnis, "I-Contract was supposed to have added value but now we have decided to go above the board and there is no focus on advertising as such."

The two-year-old Plugin Sales is now actively scouting for new investors to further fund its venture. The company had invested Rs 15 crore in its first round of funding.

"We are now looking at people who can be strategic investors. Being a start-up we would rather have people who understand the business. There are larger issues of funding and while Raymond may retain its stake, it may not be involved in the next round of funding,'' states Mr Tipnis.

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