E-book and e-magazine store (application) Rockstand has initiated discussions with private equity players to raise between $5 million and $10 million (about ₹30-60 crore).

Funds will be used mostly for expansion and technology upgrading.

Rockstand follows a pay-per-download model, – where subscribers are charged as per downloading the book or magazine – and is available on iOS (Apple), Android (Google) and Windows (Microsoft) operating systems.

According to Praveen Rajpal, CEO, discussions began some three months back and funding details are likely to materialise latest by March.

“We are in talks with the top venture capitalists. Funding details will be finalised either by December or at the most by March,” he told BusinessLine .

The Delhi-based company competes with the likes of Magzter, Kobo and Kindle in the e-book and e-magazine segments, but specialises in education content—online books and study material for competitive examinations.

Overseas expansion

According to Rajpal, Rockstand is looking to expand to other Asian nations such as Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. It is targeting December as the possible time for entry.

The idea would be to cater to the Indian diaspora, especially the South Indians living in these nations.

This apart, Rockstand is also looking to cater to West Africa and South American nations. “There is a good demand for educational content in Latin America,” he added.

Currently, the entire revenue of the company is from its Indian operations.

Partnerships

Plans are also afoot to firm up the company’s presence here in the domestic market. As an immediate focus, Rockstand is looking to increase the number of publishers (for putting up content) to 5,000 by the end of this year; an over 600 per cent increase over the existing 700 plus. Accordingly, it is eyeing tie-ups with coaching institutes and universities for region-specific content.

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