contentSutra.com:India's Digital News Monitor

Total news: 76
Last news: 713 days 18 hours 44 minutes ago

Info Edge (BOM: 532777) will pick up 49% stake in Etechaces Marketing and Consulting, which runs Policybazaar.com

Info Edge India Ltd, the owners of Naukri.com, will invest Rs 20 crore for a 49% stake in eTechAces Marketing and Consulting Pvt Ltd, an online aggregator of insurance products, the company informed the stock exchange. eTechAces runs policybazaar.com, an online aggregator of life and non-life insurance products. The website essentially collects insurance leads and let the insurance companies compete for it.

In a press note issued from the company, Info Edge, Ambarish Raghuvanshi, CFO and Director, Info Edge (India) ltd. said, "eTechAces has a great management team and a differentiated approach to distributing financial products online, by empowering the customer to enable comparison of available options and make an informed data-driven decision.

The companys bouquet of products include insurance products to be sold online, which is so far an untapped area in India. In other countries, especially in Europe, it is a high growth category."

Etechaces is founded by Yashish Dahiya who is also the CEO of the company, Alok Bansal and Avaneesh Nirjar who act as the CFO and COO of the firm respectively.

It was only in July that Info Edge invested Rs 6.5 crore ($1.54 million) for a 40 per cent equity stake in Applect Learning Systems, a Delhi-based education content developer. It had already disbursed Rs 1 crore as part of the first tranche of the investment.

Earlier this year, Info Edge invested $1 million in StudyPlaces Inc, as part of the latters $3-million series A round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

This story was provided by our content partner VCCircle

Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

Info Edge (BOM: 532777) will pick up 49% stake in Etechaces Marketing and Consulting, which runs Policybazaar.com

Info Edge India Ltd, the owners of Naukri.com, will invest Rs 20 crore for a 49% stake in eTechAces Marketing and Consulting Pvt Ltd, an online aggregator of insurance products, the company informed the stock exchange. eTechAces runs policybazaar.com, an online aggregator of life and non-life insurance products. The website essentially collects insurance leads and let the insurance companies compete for it.

In a press note issued from the company, Info Edge, Ambarish Raghuvanshi, CFO and Director, Info Edge (India) ltd. said, "eTechAces has a great management team and a differentiated approach to distributing financial products online, by empowering the customer to enable comparison of available options and make an informed data-driven decision.

The companys bouquet of products include insurance products to be sold online, which is so far an untapped area in India. In other countries, especially in Europe, it is a high growth category."

Etechaces is founded by Yashish Dahiya who is also the CEO of the company, Alok Bansal and Avaneesh Nirjar who act as the CFO and COO of the firm respectively.

It was only in July that Info Edge invested Rs 6.5 crore ($1.54 million) for a 40 per cent equity stake in Applect Learning Systems, a Delhi-based education content developer. It had already disbursed Rs 1 crore as part of the first tranche of the investment.

Earlier this year, Info Edge invested $1 million in StudyPlaces Inc, as part of the latters $3-million series A round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

This story was provided by our content partner VCCircle

Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

As we gear up for Tuesdays EconMusic conference in London, weve assembled a list of the top five recent music deals by size. Given the tremors in the music industry, it should come as no surprise that the deals—both in size and kind—are quite varied by sector, as players look for exits and felicitous combinations.

-- Sony-Sony BMG, $1.2 Billion, 8/5/08: The biggest deal of the lot, a doubling down on the traditional record label business. That Sony (NYSE: SNE) would eventually buy back Bertelsmanns 50 percent stake in Sony BMG was a matter of "when" and "at what price," but not "if." The ticket price came as a bit of a surprise following weak results at the unit just a week earlier.

-- CBS-Last.fm, $280 Million, 5/30/07: The next biggest deal is the biggest "Web2.0"-ish acquisition. The sale represented a large exit for the UK music site, whose popular social discovery service lacked anything resembling a real business model. It also marked a key moment in CBS (NYSE: CBS) M&A-based digital strategy, culminating this past summer with the purchase of CNET.

The rest of the top five deals and a chart of the top 10 music mergers and acquisitions, in the full post…

-- Bennett Coleman & Co.-Virgin Radio; $106 million; 6/1/2008: The parent company of the Times of India newspaper reached outside its borders and its traditional industry with this deal. Virgin Radio was an early online adopter, broadcasting over the internet in 1996. The powerful Virgin brand name was not part of the deal, so Bennett said it would spend $30 million on a rebranding campaign.

-- Nokia-Twango; $100 million; 7/23/07: Twango who? Nokia (NYSE: NOK) spent $100 million for social media sharing platform Twango (think: a basic YouTube/Flickr combo), in an effort to build out its online services business. Not surprisingly, given the lack of significant Twango brand value and Nokias drive to create its own umbrella brand, the service joined Nokias music download service and N-Gage gaming platform as part of Ovi.

-- Nokia-Loudeye; $60 Million; 8/9/06: Following hot on the heels of Twango, Nokias next acquisition helped it hone in more directly on mobile music. Loudeye rode the hype waves but couldnt thrive on its own, restructuring multiple times before ultimately selling out. Although Loudeye was involved in online music, this deal was really about mobile. The two companies had worked together for a few years before they decided to officially mesh.

Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when youre on the go. Go here to download.

As we gear up for Tuesdays EconMusic conference in London, weve assembled a list of the top five recent music deals by size. Given the tremors in the music industry, it should come as no surprise that the deals—both in size and kind—are quite varied by sector, as players look for exits and felicitous combinations.

-- Sony-Sony BMG, $1.2 Billion, 8/5/08: The biggest deal of the lot, a doubling down on the traditional record label business. That Sony (NYSE: SNE) would eventually buy back Bertelsmanns 50 percent stake in Sony BMG was a matter of "when" and "at what price," but not "if." The ticket price came as a bit of a surprise following weak results at the unit just a week earlier.

-- CBS-Last.fm, $280 Million, 5/30/07: The next biggest deal is the biggest "Web2.0"-ish acquisition. The sale represented a large exit for the UK music site, whose popular social discovery service lacked anything resembling a real business model. It also marked a key moment in CBS (NYSE: CBS) M&A-based digital strategy, culminating this past summer with the purchase of CNET.

The rest of the top five deals and a chart of the top 10 music mergers and acquisitions, in the full post…

-- Bennett Coleman & Co.-Virgin Radio; $106 million; 6/1/2008: The parent company of the Times of India newspaper reached outside its borders and its traditional industry with this deal. Virgin Radio was an early online adopter, broadcasting over the internet in 1996. The powerful Virgin brand name was not part of the deal, so Bennett said it would spend $30 million on a rebranding campaign.

-- Nokia-Twango; $100 million; 7/23/07: Twango who? Nokia (NYSE: NOK) spent $100 million for social media sharing platform Twango (think: a basic YouTube/Flickr combo), in an effort to build out its online services business. Not surprisingly, given the lack of significant Twango brand value and Nokias drive to create its own umbrella brand, the service joined Nokias music download service and N-Gage gaming platform as part of Ovi.

-- Nokia-Loudeye; $60 Million; 8/9/06: Following hot on the heels of Twango, Nokias next acquisition helped it hone in more directly on mobile music. Loudeye rode the hype waves but couldnt thrive on its own, restructuring multiple times before ultimately selling out. Although Loudeye was involved in online music, this deal was really about mobile. The two companies had worked together for a few years before they decided to officially mesh.

Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when youre on the go. Go here to download.

Reliance Technology Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners India have invested an undisclosed amount in Mumbai-based Suvidhaa Infoserve Pvt Ltd, which has a technology that helps people make daily transactions such as railway ticketing, mobile recharge, air ticketing, insurance payment, bill payment, bus ticketing, movie ticketing and so on.

The company has already installed its devices in some 4,000 kirana stores. Suvidhaas proprietary technology platform integrates these kirana stores to the various services providers systems.

The company is backed by the Shapoorji Pallonji group and calls itself a services commerce (S-Commerce) firm. Suvidhaas services intends to allow customers to avail themselves of any service across any sector at single-window access points in a unique click-and-mortar set-up.

Suvidhaa plans to use the funds raised to expand its portfolio of service offerings into vertical markets throughout India and enhance business development and marketing efforts.

Suvidhaa plans to expand its presence in 100 cities and launch 20,000 franchisee outlets by March 2009. It currently has a presence in 4,000 local kirana stores. The storekeepers benefit from increasing footfalls in their stores and it also gives them an additional source of income.

Suvidhaa has been promoted by Paresh Rajde and initially funded by Shapoor Pallonji Mistry. Suvidhaa has tied up with IRCTC for railway ticketing and all the major airlines to provide its services. It also has tie ups with telecom services such as Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), Airtel, BSNL, Reliance, Idea, Tata and MTNL and multiplexes such as AdLabs and Fun Cinema.

This story was provided by our content partner VCCircle

Reliance Technology Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners India have invested an undisclosed amount in Mumbai-based Suvidhaa Infoserve Pvt Ltd, which has a technology that helps people make daily transactions such as railway ticketing, mobile recharge, air ticketing, insurance payment, bill payment, bus ticketing, movie ticketing and so on.

The company has already installed its devices in some 4,000 kirana stores. Suvidhaas proprietary technology platform integrates these kirana stores to the various services providers systems.

The company is backed by the Shapoorji Pallonji group and calls itself a services commerce (S-Commerce) firm. Suvidhaas services intends to allow customers to avail themselves of any service across any sector at single-window access points in a unique click-and-mortar set-up.

Suvidhaa plans to use the funds raised to expand its portfolio of service offerings into vertical markets throughout India and enhance business development and marketing efforts.

Suvidhaa plans to expand its presence in 100 cities and launch 20,000 franchisee outlets by March 2009. It currently has a presence in 4,000 local kirana stores. The storekeepers benefit from increasing footfalls in their stores and it also gives them an additional source of income.

Suvidhaa has been promoted by Paresh Rajde and initially funded by Shapoor Pallonji Mistry. Suvidhaa has tied up with IRCTC for railway ticketing and all the major airlines to provide its services. It also has tie ups with telecom services such as Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), Airtel, BSNL, Reliance, Idea, Tata and MTNL and multiplexes such as AdLabs and Fun Cinema.

This story was provided by our content partner VCCircle

Helion Venture Partners and a clutch of NRIs have invested Rs 33.97 crore in media start-up 9.9 Mediaworx. The consortium of investors have picked up a total of 97,057 shares or a 49.25% stake at Rs 3,500 per share of face value Rs 10 each.

Helion Venture Partners India II LLC will pick up 37.4% stake for Rs 25.79 crore, while Rajat K Gupta, former McKinsey worldwide chief, will pick up 3.1% for Rs 2.14 crore. Canada based Stephen Dent, and US-based NRIs like Vinay Mohan Singh, Ashutosh Padhi, Anil Nigam and Shirish Sankee have also picked up shares ranging from 0.5% to 3%.

9.9 Mediaworks was founded last year by a team of senior professionals formerly with Kolkata based Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP Group). They included Pramath Raj Sinha (former chief of McKinsey in India and ex CEO of ABP; pictured above), Asheesh Gupta (formerly CEO, Hero Mindmine and vice-president, strategy, at ABP), Anuradha Das Mathur (formerly with the Indian associate of the EIU and Businessworld) and Vikas Gupta (formerly head of marketing of Coca-Cola India and chief marketing officer at ABP). More details here.

This story was provided by our content partner VCCircle

Helion Venture Partners and a clutch of NRIs have invested Rs 33.97 crore in media start-up 9.9 Mediaworx. The consortium of investors have picked up a total of 97,057 shares or a 49.25% stake at Rs 3,500 per share of face value Rs 10 each.

Helion Venture Partners India II LLC will pick up 37.4% stake for Rs 25.79 crore, while Rajat K Gupta, former McKinsey worldwide chief, will pick up 3.1% for Rs 2.14 crore. Canada based Stephen Dent, and US-based NRIs like Vinay Mohan Singh, Ashutosh Padhi, Anil Nigam and Shirish Sankee have also picked up shares ranging from 0.5% to 3%.

9.9 Mediaworks was founded last year by a team of senior professionals formerly with Kolkata based Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP Group). They included Pramath Raj Sinha (former chief of McKinsey in India and ex CEO of ABP; pictured above), Asheesh Gupta (formerly CEO, Hero Mindmine and vice-president, strategy, at ABP), Anuradha Das Mathur (formerly with the Indian associate of the EIU and Businessworld) and Vikas Gupta (formerly head of marketing of Coca-Cola India and chief marketing officer at ABP). More details here.

This story was provided by our content partner VCCircle

Well, at least big Hollywood names can still get a line of credit in these trying times. The heads at DreamWorks SKG have firmed up a $1.2 billion deal to leave Viacoms Paramount Pictures and form a new venture funded by Indian telecom and media conglomerate Reliance ADA Group, WSJ reports. The Mumbai-based company will inject $500 million and $700 million in debt through J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to produce about six films a year.

The deal creates a new powerhouse in Hollywood backed by Steven Spielberg, one of the entertainment industrys most successful and biggest names, and marks Reliances most ambitious push into the United States thus far. While Spielberg and DreamWorks CEO Stacey Snider are locked in with Paramount for a number of upcoming film projects including a Transformers sequel, it marks the coming end of an era at Viacom (NYSE: VIA), which purchased Dreamworks just two years ago for $1.6 billion. Its still unclear to what extent, but down the line the new venture will likely wrest some major content from Viacoms film pipeline at a time when films are becoming more valuable across multiple platforms. Following the WSJ report, Paramount issued a statement congratulating the Dreamworks founders and waived provisions in their current arrangement to allow them to "join their new company without delay." Spielberg and Snider will head the yet-to-be named venture while fellow Dreamworks co-founder David Geffen is expected to resign from Paramount and wont be involved in the new company.

The Hollywood breakup has been expected for some time. Executives at Dreamworks and Paramount have clashed ever since the companies came together. Back in June, details surfaced about Reliances talks with Dreamworks heads, which seemed to jive closely with the Indian companys public plan to create a name for itself in Hollywood and then build itself into a global media empire. The new venture will now have to select a distribution partner and Universal Pictures, where Spielberg began his career, is a heavy favorite, but no agreement has been reached. A deal with HBO is also expected to be announced soon.

Well, at least big Hollywood names can still get a line of credit in these trying times. The heads at DreamWorks SKG have firmed up a $1.2 billion deal to leave Viacoms Paramount Pictures and form a new venture funded by Indian telecom and media conglomerate Reliance ADA Group, WSJ reports. The Mumbai-based company will inject $500 million and $700 million in debt through J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to produce about six films a year.

The deal creates a new powerhouse in Hollywood backed by Steven Spielberg, one of the entertainment industrys most successful and biggest names, and marks Reliances most ambitious push into the United States thus far. While Spielberg and DreamWorks CEO Stacey Snider are locked in with Paramount for a number of upcoming film projects including a Transformers sequel, it marks the coming end of an era at Viacom (NYSE: VIA), which purchased Dreamworks just two years ago for $1.6 billion. Its still unclear to what extent, but down the line the new venture will likely wrest some major content from Viacoms film pipeline at a time when films are becoming more valuable across multiple platforms. Following the WSJ report, Paramount issued a statement congratulating the Dreamworks founders and waived provisions in their current arrangement to allow them to "join their new company without delay." Spielberg and Snider will head the yet-to-be named venture while fellow Dreamworks co-founder David Geffen is expected to resign from Paramount and wont be involved in the new company.

The Hollywood breakup has been expected for some time. Executives at Dreamworks and Paramount have clashed ever since the companies came together. Back in June, details surfaced about Reliances talks with Dreamworks heads, which seemed to jive closely with the Indian companys public plan to create a name for itself in Hollywood and then build itself into a global media empire. The new venture will now have to select a distribution partner and Universal Pictures, where Spielberg began his career, is a heavy favorite, but no agreement has been reached. A deal with HBO is also expected to be announced soon.

Lots of conference coverage this week… check out our Goldman Sachs Communacopia stories on paidContent and mocoNews, Tricia Duryees coverage from GigaOms Mobilize in San Francisco, and David Kaplans posts on OMMA Platform Wars.

We also opened registration for our second annual Future of Business Media conference, EconSports and EconWomen. All three events will take place on Oct. 28-29 at the Edison Ballroom in NYC.

paidContent.org:
-- WSJ.com Relaunches During Financial News Meltdown; Glossy New Look, Business Song Remains The Same
-- Wall St. Turmoil Not Likely To Touch Online Ad Spend; WPPs Sorrell: Too Soon To Tell
-- Yahoo Starts Limited Beta Of New Front Page
-- The Next Chapter: Best Buy To Acquire Napster For $121 Million
-- Yahoo Music, Rhapsody Partner For Music Search With Full-Track Streaming; IMDb For Music
-- Zell To LAT Staffers: Were In This Together; Lawsuit Charges Are Frivolous and Unfounded

mocoNews:
-- Verizon Wireless Quietly Launches Flash-Based Storefront
-- Best Buy Mobile Sees Dramatic Growth But Investments Bring Down Profits
-- Interview: Jean-David Begin, BlackBerry Partner Fund: Cautiously Moving Toward 20 Investments
-- T-Mobile Launching More 3G Markets In Time For Android Launch; 27 Markets By End Of 2008
-- Samsung Officially Makes $26 Per Share Offer To Sandisk; Deeply Disappointed Not To Have Agreement

paidContent:UK:
-- Tiscali Weighs In: Kangaroo Will Threaten Every Other UK Operator
-- DMGT Merging National And Regional At Top, Beatty New CEO
-- Yahoo, Google Deny EU Ad Deal Impact, But EC Looks For Itself
-- BT Has Serious Concerns On Kangaroo; JV Would Reduce Competition
-- Updated: Telegraph, NYT (FRB: 066570) Adding BreakingViews.coms Financial Meltdown Commentary

Grab your tickets for EconMusic on Sept. 23 in London. Also, save the date for our trifecta of conferences, FOBM, EconWomen and EconSports in October.

Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when youre on the go. Go here to download.

Lots of conference coverage this week… check out our Goldman Sachs Communacopia stories on paidContent and mocoNews, Tricia Duryees coverage from GigaOms Mobilize in San Francisco, and David Kaplans posts on OMMA Platform Wars.

We also opened registration for our second annual Future of Business Media conference, EconSports and EconWomen. All three events will take place on Oct. 28-29 at the Edison Ballroom in NYC.

paidContent.org:
-- WSJ.com Relaunches During Financial News Meltdown; Glossy New Look, Business Song Remains The Same
-- Wall St. Turmoil Not Likely To Touch Online Ad Spend; WPPs Sorrell: Too Soon To Tell
-- Yahoo Starts Limited Beta Of New Front Page
-- The Next Chapter: Best Buy To Acquire Napster For $121 Million
-- Yahoo Music, Rhapsody Partner For Music Search With Full-Track Streaming; IMDb For Music
-- Zell To LAT Staffers: Were In This Together; Lawsuit Charges Are Frivolous and Unfounded

mocoNews:
-- Verizon Wireless Quietly Launches Flash-Based Storefront
-- Best Buy Mobile Sees Dramatic Growth But Investments Bring Down Profits
-- Interview: Jean-David Begin, BlackBerry Partner Fund: Cautiously Moving Toward 20 Investments
-- T-Mobile Launching More 3G Markets In Time For Android Launch; 27 Markets By End Of 2008
-- Samsung Officially Makes $26 Per Share Offer To Sandisk; Deeply Disappointed Not To Have Agreement

paidContent:UK:
-- Tiscali Weighs In: Kangaroo Will Threaten Every Other UK Operator
-- DMGT Merging National And Regional At Top, Beatty New CEO
-- Yahoo, Google Deny EU Ad Deal Impact, But EC Looks For Itself
-- BT Has Serious Concerns On Kangaroo; JV Would Reduce Competition
-- Updated: Telegraph, NYT (FRB: 066570) Adding BreakingViews.coms Financial Meltdown Commentary

Grab your tickets for EconMusic on Sept. 23 in London. Also, save the date for our trifecta of conferences, FOBM, EconWomen and EconSports in October.

Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when youre on the go. Go here to download.

In one of those local experiments that Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) keeps doing from time to time, it has launched a new social networking service called SpotM in India. This is Yahoos third or fourth attempt at entering social networking space, which has been a weak spot for it for it all along.

For now, the service is in closed beta, and aimed, of course, at the youth market. From Pluggd.in, some features: allows users to define secret friends that their other friends wont be able to see; and SMS integration/Anonymous chat: private conversations with others without revealing their mobile number. I think that anonymous part will raise some privacy issues…

Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

In one of those local experiments that Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) keeps doing from time to time, it has launched a new social networking service called SpotM in India. This is Yahoos third or fourth attempt at entering social networking space, which has been a weak spot for it for it all along.

For now, the service is in closed beta, and aimed, of course, at the youth market. From Pluggd.in, some features: allows users to define secret friends that their other friends wont be able to see; and SMS integration/Anonymous chat: private conversations with others without revealing their mobile number. I think that anonymous part will raise some privacy issues…

Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

Mobile content company Coruscant Tec has finally found a buyer. Bollywood biggie Mukta Arts Ltd has agreed to pick up 51% stake in Mumbai based Coruscant for an undisclosed sum. Mukta has retained the right to acquire the remaining 49% stake by next year, Probir Roy, Co-founder and board member of Coruscant Tec told VC Circle.

Coruscant was founded by Roy and Ajay Adiseshann, who, in 2006, founded mobile payment company Paymate. Both Roy and Adiseshann had an understanding with PayMates investors - Kleiner Perkins and Sherpalo - that they would give up the management of Coruscant. The current deal is a result of that.

Coruscant provided such services as bringing magazines on mobile, live streaming of content on mobile, distributing ringtones and Uncle Pai comics. The company during its peak time employed about 25 people which are now down to 10 or so, Roy said.

For Mukta, the acquisition of Coruscant will give it capabilities for digitising its vast library of bollywood content. Subhash Ghai, Chairman of Mukta Arts, said, "The acquisition of Coruscant Tec is a logical step towards launching Muktas web and mobile digital initiatives and entering the VAS space.  Mukta is a content creation company and Coruscant Tec offers content delivery solutions in the new media space. We expect synergies arising out of short format content created by Mukta or Whistling Woods students and released through the tie-ups Coruscant has with various telecom companies such as Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), Reliance, VSNL, Tata Teleservices as well as other Partners".

Ajay Adiseshann, Founder and MD, Coruscant Tec said, "Several players, wishing to consolidate or enter the mobile VAS space, have expressed interest in our company.  We found that Mukta Arts with its command over the complete entertainment value chain in India, was the best fit to provide the necessary scale and boost to the business, which is currently a $1 billion market growing at 40% per annum and expected to become a $4 billion market by 2010."

This story was provided by our content partner VCCircle

Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

Mobile content company Coruscant Tec has finally found a buyer. Bollywood biggie Mukta Arts Ltd has agreed to pick up 51% stake in Mumbai based Coruscant for an undisclosed sum. Mukta has retained the right to acquire the remaining 49% stake by next year, Probir Roy, Co-founder and board member of Coruscant Tec told VC Circle.

Coruscant was founded by Roy and Ajay Adiseshann, who, in 2006, founded mobile payment company Paymate. Both Roy and Adiseshann had an understanding with PayMates investors - Kleiner Perkins and Sherpalo - that they would give up the management of Coruscant. The current deal is a result of that.

Coruscant provided such services as bringing magazines on mobile, live streaming of content on mobile, distributing ringtones and Uncle Pai comics. The company during its peak time employed about 25 people which are now down to 10 or so, Roy said.

For Mukta, the acquisition of Coruscant will give it capabilities for digitising its vast library of bollywood content. Subhash Ghai, Chairman of Mukta Arts, said, "The acquisition of Coruscant Tec is a logical step towards launching Muktas web and mobile digital initiatives and entering the VAS space.  Mukta is a content creation company and Coruscant Tec offers content delivery solutions in the new media space. We expect synergies arising out of short format content created by Mukta or Whistling Woods students and released through the tie-ups Coruscant has with various telecom companies such as Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), Reliance, VSNL, Tata Teleservices as well as other Partners".

Ajay Adiseshann, Founder and MD, Coruscant Tec said, "Several players, wishing to consolidate or enter the mobile VAS space, have expressed interest in our company.  We found that Mukta Arts with its command over the complete entertainment value chain in India, was the best fit to provide the necessary scale and boost to the business, which is currently a $1 billion market growing at 40% per annum and expected to become a $4 billion market by 2010."

This story was provided by our content partner VCCircle

Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

A week after AOL unveiled its new-look front page with lifestreaming and e-mail aggregation, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) is starting limited random beta tests of new home pages—and we mean limited—to less than one percent of users in the U.S., UK, France and India. The beta emphasizes apps from Yahoo and from third parties, including a dashboard with a way to view email from multiple providers similar to that launched last week by AOL (NYSE: TWX). Unlike AOL, though, Yahoo plans more customization and personalization of the home-page experience. Kara Swisher calls it My Yahoo lite.

Tapan Bhat, the SVP responsible for the Front Door, explained the changes and the testing on Yodel Anecdotal, the companys official blog.

Among the changes:

-- A left-hand dashboard for preview apps like the e-mail app, developed to encourage users to stay on the home page but keep up with changing information. The first round includes weather and local events. Bhat says users should expect "new preview applications from your favorite Web sites ... and eventually even open it up to the Yahoo! Application Platform so that external developers and publishers can submit their own preview applications to be featured on the Yahoo! homepage."

-- Eventually, no promise of when, Yahoo plans to make it possible for users to customize the home page by choosing which apps to include.

-- "Featured" content will be updated more frequently.

-- Also eventually, Yahoo will add the ability to see social network info, something AOL plans to roll out in the next few weeks as part of its front-page lifestreaming. Bhat told Swisher: "They want choices, but they also want dont want to do the work involved" to make their own. "It is not a dashboard approach of My Yahoo or iGoogle (NSDQ: GOOG). People are time-starved…so it is important to the user to get to their relevant daily information as quickly as possible without having to click around."

Let us know here if you see the new front page—and what you think about it. 

Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

A week after AOL unveiled its new-look front page with lifestreaming and e-mail aggregation, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) is starting limited random beta tests of new home pages—and we mean limited—to less than one percent of users in the U.S., UK, France and India. The beta emphasizes apps from Yahoo and from third parties, including a dashboard with a way to view email from multiple providers similar to that launched last week by AOL (NYSE: TWX). Unlike AOL, though, Yahoo plans more customization and personalization of the home-page experience. Kara Swisher calls it My Yahoo lite.

Tapan Bhat, the SVP responsible for the Front Door, explained the changes and the testing on Yodel Anecdotal, the companys official blog.

Among the changes:

-- A left-hand dashboard for preview apps like the e-mail app, developed to encourage users to stay on the home page but keep up with changing information. The first round includes weather and local events. Bhat says users should expect "new preview applications from your favorite Web sites ... and eventually even open it up to the Yahoo! Application Platform so that external developers and publishers can submit their own preview applications to be featured on the Yahoo! homepage."

-- Eventually, no promise of when, Yahoo plans to make it possible for users to customize the home page by choosing which apps to include.

-- "Featured" content will be updated more frequently.

-- Also eventually, Yahoo will add the ability to see social network info, something AOL plans to roll out in the next few weeks as part of its front-page lifestreaming. Bhat told Swisher: "They want choices, but they also want dont want to do the work involved" to make their own. "It is not a dashboard approach of My Yahoo or iGoogle (NSDQ: GOOG). People are time-starved…so it is important to the user to get to their relevant daily information as quickly as possible without having to click around."

Let us know here if you see the new front page—and what you think about it. 

Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.