Tenaya Capital leads SMS GupShup’s $10m Series E round

Other participants in the financing round were existing investors Globespan Capital Partners, Helion Ventures and Charles River Ventures. SMS GupShup has now raised a total of $47 million through five rounds. The first round, worth $12 million and led by Globespan, took place in 2009.

The company launched in April 2007 and claims to connect 50 million Asians via mobile devices. It was founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and incubated at the IIT Bombay Business Incubator.

"SMS GupShup has cemented itself as the dominant social network in India, demonstrating that the company truly understands the Indian consumer and their needs. We are also very excited about the company's opportunity to leverage its innovative product offerings to expand beyond India into other high growth emerging markets," Brian Paul, managing director at Tenaya Capital, said in a statement.

Tenaya has backed a number of internet-related early stage firms in Asia. It participated in the $110 million Series C round for Chinese grouping buying site Lashou in April, having already featured in the $50 million Series B round raised in December 2010.

Tenaya also backed Chinese travel booking website Qunar, contributing to the $27 million in venture funding that the company received since its inception in 2005. In late June, Baidu took a majority stake in Qunar for $306 million, but it is unknown whether this facilitated Tenaya's exit. One of the other backers, GSR Ventures, said it had no plans to exit. Qunar is still tipped for an IPO.

 

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Media
• Early-stage
• Helion Ventures
• Tenaya Capital