MUMBAI: Ketan Mehta promoted Maya Entertainment Ltd, a leading computer animation and visual effects studio for film and television in India, has received a third round of funding to meet its expansion plans from Intel Capital.
Intel Capital's latest investment in Maya is via a new fund it has floated - Intel Capital India Technology Fund.
Maya has got outsourcing contracts worth $5 million to be executed over a period of 18 months. "We are doing it for a UK-based production company," says Maya Entertainment Ltd CEO Rajesh Turakhia.
For the 30-episode animation TV series, the contract is worth $3.65 million. "The remaining amount will be towards work for direct-to-home (DTH) DVD which will be completed by October 2006," says Turakhia. The project for the TV series is expected to be complete by March 2007.
Maya Entertainment will soon expand its seat capacity to 200, Turakhia says. The target is to have a 300-seat capacity by beginning of 2007. The company is in negotiations for three more animation outsourcing projects.
Intel Capital had first invested in Maya in 2000. The second round of funding took place in 2003. Intel has done the fresh funding through its Intel Capital India Technology Fund. Out of the Fund's corpus of $250 million, Intel has completed three investments for an undisclosed amount in Indian companies.
Bangalore-based Mobiapps, a provider of hybrid terrestrial and satellite technologies for commercial communications, has received a funding of $10 million. The financing round was led by UOB Venture Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of United Overseas Bank Ltd, and other new investors included Intel Capital. Existing investors also participated, including Partners Group. Beacon Advisory acted as financial advisors to the company for this equity funding. The company will use this investment to accelerate its global sales and marketing, new product launches, and next generation product development.
Intel's third investment is in Pune-based Persistent Systems Private Ltd, a provider of outsourced software product development services. Mobiapps is new to the Intel Capital portfolio, and Maya Entertainment and Persistent Systems are follow-on investments in companies that have been part of the Intel Capital portfolio since 2000.
