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.”
The name of the investor at Norwest is Promod Haque. Norwest is also known for investing in Cameraworld, JigSaw, Wallop, Moviebeam, and Turn.
