HOOQ raises US$ 25 million from Sony Pictures, others; open to outside investors

MUMBAI: Southeast Asian streaming platform HOOQ, a Netflix challenger, has raised US$25 million (Rs 1.7 billion) in capital from existing investors — Sony Pictures, Singtel and Warner Brothers, it was announced through a stock exchange filing from Singtel.

HOOQ went live in Indonesia, Philippines, India and Thailand in 2015. Recently launching in India, Amazon Prime Video is now an international challenger.

HOOQ CEO Peter Bithos said that the company was preparing to welcome outside investors.

The filing stated that Singtel had invested an additional US$ 15.5 million with the other investors contributing the remainder. It was also disclosed that HOOQ had earlier raised US$ 70 million, taking the total recent investment to US$ 95 million.

HOOQ was founded two years ago by the trio with Singtel having a majority holding. Following the deal, the companies retained the same shareholding with Singtel owning 65 per cent; Warner and Sony each taking 17.5 per cent.