Handygo To Raise INR 2bn For Rural VAS

Handygo Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a mobile VAS provider, plans to raise over INR 2 billion ($0.036 billion) in the next 24 months, to cement its place as a leading rural VAS provider in India.

We are working on the figure. It could be over INR 2 billion. We are a debt free company and quite bullish on our growth plans. For us, tier 2 and 3 markets offer tremendous opportunities. We believe we will have an early mover advantage that will give us a 50 percent market share in these markets in next 2-3 years, says Dipanker Mukherjee, Chief Operating Officer of Handygo Technologies to Light Reading India.

The company has recently announced its plans to invest INR 1.2 billion in expansion of its services in the country in the next 12 months. The investment will be largely utilized to expand it's Behtar Zindagi, a mobile based helpline service for farming and allied communities, to about 1,00,000 villages, across Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in India. (See .)

"We have tie-ups with all the leading operators for this service except Aircel Ltd.," says Mukherjee.

Besides, Behtar Zindagi, it also has Sochna Shakti an IVR service for rural women, that delivers information, expert advice and news and alerts, that can be accessed by dialing a short code from anywhere. It also works with various government and self-funded bodies like Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, CARE and CAB International to take relevant information and disseminate it to farmers. (See Handygo Ties Up With CABI For Rural VAS)

The company says that the rural VAS opportunity, in India, is estimated to be around INR 1 billion in the next two-to-three years and it is already doing INR 7-8 crores.

Besides, rural VAS, the company also offers popular downloads, songs, games, wallpapers, videos through online products like Zindagi Rocks (Wealth based), Ping Me! (Comedy portal), Fame on Game, and Zing (Lifestyle based). It says that around 70 percent revenues comes from rural and utility based VAS services and rest comes from entertainment and lifestyle VAS. (See Handyo Gets Zing With Buzzintown and Idea Cellular, Handygo Team on VAS.)

The company currently has around 153 people working in India and has topline revenues of INR 88 Crores.

Jatinder Singh, Principal Correspondent, Light Reading India