Sierra Ventures Furthers Focus on India with Investments in MakeMyTrip.com and Seedfund

Menlo Park, California, United States , 2007-01-04

Sierra Ventures, a US $1.5 Billion Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, announced that it has made a direct investment in MakeMyTrip.com, India’s largest online travel portal, and a strategic investment in a seed stage venture capital fund, Seedfund.

“Online travel is among the largest consumer Internet markets in India and MakeMyTrip.com is the dominant and most successful company in the country” said Tim Guleri, Managing Director, Sierra Ventures. “We have been active in India for the last few years and we look forward to continuing an aggressive pace of investment across technology sectors.”

Founder and CEO of MakeMyTrip.com, Deep Kalra, said “Sierra Ventures has a strong understanding of the consumer internet space in India and their international presence will significantly beneift MakeMyTrip.com as we increase our leadership position in the industry.”

Seedfund is a seed stage fund that will target startups in India that focus on Consumer Media, Internet, Mobile and Retail sectors. The fund is managed by a team with a strong early-stage track record in India in both operational and investment capacities. Managing Partners include Pravin Gandhi and Bharati Jacob, both formerly with Infinity Venture Fund, and Mahesh Murthy, a serial entrepreneur responsible for founding and building successful publicly listed technology companies in India.

“The team at Seedfund has both the requisite successful regional venture capital experience and have personally built some of the most successful startup companies in the country.” said Vispi Daver, Principal at Sierra Ventures. “Our relationship with Seedfund complements our direct investment strategy in India and through this relationship we look forward to continuing an aggressive pace of investment moving forward.”

“Sierra Ventures has an established focus on India and their 25 year history is a testament to their ability to consistently build successful companies” said Pravin Gandhi, Managing Partner, Seedfund. “A financial relationship with a major Silicon Valley venture firm was a required inclusion in our capital structure and we look forward to a long relationship with Sierra.”

Sierra Ventures has been active in India for the last few years. The firm has done direct investments in companies based entirely in India and serving local markets, as well as investments in companies with an Indian operational presence serving global markets. The portfolio includes:

-- MakeMyTrip.com (www.makemytrip.com): India’s Largest Online Travel Company

-- Seedfund (www.seedfund.in): Seed Stage Fund focused on Consumer, Internet, Mobile and Retail

-- Astra Business Services (www.astraglobal.com): BPO Company focused on Secondary Debt Collection

-- uGenie (www.ugenie.com): Consumer Internet Company focused on Next-Generation Online Shopping

-- Approva (www.approva.net): Enterprise Software Company focused on Business Intelligence

-- Razorsight (www.razorsight.com): Spend Management Software focused on Analysis of Invoice Data

-- Everest Software (www.everestsoftwareinc.com): Business Management Solutions for Small Enterprise

Sierra’s interests in India include early and development stage companies in Consumer Internet, Mobile and Enterprise Software & Services.

About Sierra Ventures

Sierra Ventures, founded in 1982, is a privately held venture capital firm focused on investments across all areas of the Information Technology sector from semiconductors to enterprise software. Sierra Ventures has managed nine venture capital partnerships and currently has more than $1.5 billion of capital under management. Some of the firm’s investments include 360Commerce (acquired by Oracle), Active Software (acquired by WebMethods), AmeriGroup (AGP), Centex (acquired by WorldCom), ConvergeNet (acquired by Dell), FatBrain (acquired by Barnes & Noble), Frontbridge (acquired by Microsoft), Healtheon (merged with WebMD), Interact Commerce (acquired by Sage), Intuit (INTU), Micromuse (acquired by IBM), OnAssignment (ASGN), OnLink (acquired by Siebel), Quinta (acquired by Seagate), StrataCom (acquired by Cisco), Sychip (acquired by Murata Manufacturing) and Teradata (acquired by NCR). More information is available at http://www.sierraventures.com.
Contact

Tim Guleri, Sierra Ventures, 650-854-1000
[email protected]