NDTV forthcoming wedding venture Special Occasions Limited raised $20 million from US based venture capital firm CerraCap. NDTV also announces the appointment of Sachin Singhal as a CEO of Special Occasion Limited.
Speaking about the investment, Saurabh
Suri, Managing Partner, CerraCap Ventures, said, “The wedding industry
in India is a $40bn market which is highly disorganized and has operated
the same way for decades. With India’s growing tech savvy populous;
this market is ripe for disruption. Special Occasions has the right
team, vision and platform to enable this disruption and be a leader in
this space”.
Vikram Chandra, Group CEO NDTV mentioned
in an official statement that, the investment is a validation of NDTV’s
digital strategy.
“We have been able to demonstrate our
capability with indianroots.com, gadget360.com, carandbike.com, all of
which have seen keen investor interest. Weddings’ is yet another
business where we already have a high brand recall through our marquee
shows in the wedding space. We are confident that with CerraCap’s
investments, we will be able to roll the latest of the NDTV ecommerce
ventures, successfully,” commented Chandra.
With this launch, NDTV is aiming to establish itself more firmly in the digital and ecommerce space.
Commenting on his appointment, Sachin
Singhal, CEO, Special Occasions, said, “People are looking for answers
on how to achieve their dream wedding.. How to navigate from dream to
reality.. The new platform will be a game changer and will provide 360
degree solutions in the wedding and festival space. With the growing
internet population and the adoption of smart phones, this space will
disrupt too.”
Singhal holds 10 years of experience in
key start-ups in the country, he has been instrumental in setting and
scaling up leading brands such as naaptol and letsbuy among others.
Sachin is a technology entrepreneur and started his career with Tata
consultancy services.
