Xiaomi first investment in India: Hungama Raises $25 Million

Hungama has raised an investment of $25 million in India, with China’s largest smartphone maker, Xiaomi, leading the funding round along with the digital media entertainment company’s other investors. This also marks Xiaomi’s first investment into a start-up outside its home market of China.

Neeraj Roy, Founder & CEO – Hungama Digital Media Entertainment said: “India is adding 8 MN new consumers to the Internet each month with 90% of digital consumption being driven by mobile. Young Indians love their music and movies, and the mobile will be the most used screen for this generation. Content will drive the next phase of Digital India, and we are delighted to partner with Xiaomi as we prepare to bring premium and original digital entertainment to a 100 million Indians before the end of this year.”

Xiaomi’s MI platform available in India on smartphones will integrate Hungama’s on demand video on demand service. This investment once stresses on the fast-growing Indian smartphone market, which has a present base of around 400 million users.

Hugo Barra, Vice President, Xiaomi said: “We are investing in Hungama not only to start integrating content into our smartphones but also to grow together with them and deepen our understanding of the content sector in India. We have carefully selected Hungama because of what they are doing in terms of aggregating large amounts of content and delivering an amazing user experience.”

Along with Hungama’s existing investors Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Xaomi will pick up a minority, but undisclosed, stake in the Mumbai-based company.

With this round of funding, Hungama will expand the content library and further invest in enhancing technology on its mobile app platforms Hungama Music and Hungama Play for premium video including movies, television and original series.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Chairman, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment said: “I have participated in this new capital raise as I believe they (Hungama) have built a unique leadership position in the most compelling music and movie OTT service for South Asians globally that is ripe for growth as India will embrace broadband and 4G. We welcome Xiaomi as one of our partners.”

Hungama also plans to add over 1500 hours of television content along with original content to its current Hungama Play, which offers 8000 movies in English and 12 Indian languages.

Vishal Gupta, Managing Director, Bessemer Venture Partners, said “We are excited about the leadership position that Hungama has built as being the one stop OTT platform across music, videos, and movies. We are delighted to have Xiaomi as our partners and will accelerate our growth and leadership.”