Japanese home shopping major Mitsui and Co., has acquired an additional 15 per cent equity in India's Naaptol.com, raising its strategic stake in the Indian company from the current 5 per cent to 20 per cent. Through this stake sale, Naaptol raised Rs 343 crore from the Japanese conglomerate, which has home shopping business in Japan, Taiwan and China.
According to Naaptol, it is currently the only independent multi-channel shopping company in India that has presence across leading channels of television, internet, print and mobile. The company had in April raised its first round of funding of Rs 136 crore from Mitsui.
“This new round of funding comes at an exciting time for Naaptol and it intends to use this for expanding its reach and building up an efficient supply chain," said Naaptol founder and CEO Manu Agarwal.
We would also upgrade our studio capabilities to churn out more & more content in multiple languages every day and invest in technology. We are at an inflection point where transformational use of technology and expertise will define our future, Agarwal added.
Founded in 2008, Naaptol is the country's first and one of the fast growing multi-channel home shopping firms. According to the company, it reaches 160 million TV households in India on a daily basis. The company also plays over 350 hours of commercials every day in multiple languages, facilitating sales of a gamut of products from a wide range of categories like electronics, apparel, jewellery to home and lifestyle products.
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Unnikrishnan is currently Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld at its Mumbai Bureau. During his two decades long journalistic career, he has received several media awards and recognitions. His articles on healthcare, life sciences and intellectual property rights (IPR) have been republished by several international blogs and journals.
