News Corp announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the
VCCircle Network, which includes VCCircle.com,
Techcircle.in, VCCEdge, VCCircle Training, in addition to a
premium-content driven conference business.
Terms of the acquisition, which is expected to close in March, were not
disclosed.
“This significant investment is a sign of our faith in India’s future
and our enthusiasm for working with and building up emerging talents in
the country,” said News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson. “India is
an increasingly meaningful part of our portfolio, which is itself
increasingly digital and global.”
“For the past decade, we have built a strong franchise with proprietary
data, information, content, and networking capabilities around India’s
digital business world,” said P.V. Sahad, Founder and CEO of VCCircle
Network. “Being a part of News Corp will now allow us to accelerate our
already aggressive growth plans.”
VCCircle Network is owned by Mosaic Media Ventures Pvt Ltd and has about
100 employees across India, with its headquarters in Noida. Sahad, and
the management group, will become part of News Corp’s India team. Sahad
will report to News Corp Senior Vice President, Strategy, Raju Narisetti.
The VCCircle acquisition builds on News Corp’s recent digital
investments in India. In November, News Corp acquired a 25% stake in
PropTiger.com, India’s leading online residential real estate platform.
In December, News Corp acquired BigDecisions.com, which aims to help
Indian consumers make smarter financial decisions through interactive,
decision-making tools powered by sophisticated algorithms and data. News
Corp also has a presence across India through its Dow Jones, Wall Street
Journal and HarperCollins Publishers businesses.
About News Corp
News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS)(NASDAQ:NWSA)(ASX:NWS)(ASX:NWSLV) is a global,
diversified media and information services company focused on creating
and distributing authoritative and engaging content to consumers
throughout the world. The company comprises businesses across a range of
media, including: news and information services, book publishing, cable
network programming in Australia, digital real estate services, digital
education, and pay-TV distribution in Australia. Headquartered in New
York, the activities of News Corp are conducted primarily in the United
States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. More information: http://www.newscorp.com.
About VCCircle Network
The VCCircle Network includes the following:
-
VCCircle.com is
a pioneer in private equity, venture capital, and M&A related
information and analysis of the Indian investment ecosystem. It tracks
M&A, venture capital, private equity, investment banking, and emerging
companies and sectors, and was the first such website in India to
launch a premium subscription-led offering.
-
VCCEdge is an online subscription-based data platform with
comprehensive information on VC/PE/M&A deals, deal multiples, IPOs,
directories of PE/VC firms, investment banks and law firms, private
and public company information, company financials, shareholding
structures, professionals & key developments related to companies
throughout India. It primarily serves private equity and venture
capital firms, investment banks, law firms, with around 200
institutional clients.
-
Techcircle.in, launched in February 2011, is dedicated to
tracking India’s booming technology startups, including the people
behind the companies, innovations, products, strategies and startup
financing.
-
VCCircle Training, which launched in 2011, is an executive
education division that conducts intensive workshops and seminars on
finance, legal and regulatory topics for corporate, financial and
legal professionals.
-
VCCircle Conferences is a premium content-led conference
division that conducts several annual conferences across major Indian
cities in industry verticals and around focused B2B themes. Over the
past seven years, it has held some 100 conferences, hosting over
15,000 delegates and 1,500 speakers.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements are based on management’s views and assumptions regarding
future events and business performance as of the time the statements are
made. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due
to changes in global economic, business, competitive market and
regulatory and other factors. More detailed information about these and
other factors that could affect future results is contained in News
Corp’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The
“forward-looking statements” included in this document are made only as
of the date of this document and we do not have any obligation to
publicly update any “forward-looking statements” to reflect subsequent
events or circumstances, except as required by law.
Copyright Business Wire 2015