VentureBeat has announced that Indian social network company, Sulekha.com, “has raised $10 million from a leading Silicon Valley venture firm, Norwest Venture Partners.”
Sulekha contains social networking options: blogs and groups. Sulekha encourages Indians and others interested in making friends with Indians to interact. Sulekha also serves as an online marketplace for many cities. There is also a classifieds section similar to Craigslist. There are featured destinations, featured news, featured coupons, and featured pictures. The 6 key cities in India that Sulekha caters to is: Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai (Bombay).
Sulekha was created in 2001 by Satya Prabhakar. Sulekha was profitable by 2003. In Sulekha’s first round of funding, they received $4 million. ” It is making millions of dollars a year in revenues, he said, but would not elaborate. The revenue is a mix of advertising and marketplace transactions, he [Satya] said. He said there up to three million small businesses in India, with few places to list themselves or advertise [VentureBeat].”
The name of the investor at Norwest is Promod Haque. Norwest is also known for investing in Cameraworld, JigSaw, Wallop, Moviebeam, and Turn.