NDTV's smartcooky.com raises funds from Vandana Luthra

The venture, which has 3 million unique visitors a month, received the funding through the network's subsidiary SmartCooky Internet Limited

Smartcooky.com, an ecommerce venture of New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) that sells healthy foods and personal care products, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Vandana Luthra, founder of beauty and wellness brand VLCC.

Smartcooky.com is based on NDTV's current food site www.food.ndtv.com, which currently has over three million unique visitors a month. The funding has come through the network's subsidiary SmartCooky Internet Limited.

“We are pleased to have Luthra as our investor, as she brings on board a wealth of knowledge about the wellness space from a global perspective and would give SmartCooky a strategic edge in this high-growth market. She will join the other marquee investors on Smartcooky and mentor the business as we move along,” Seema Chandra, director of Smartcooky, said in a filing to the exchanges.

SmartCooky Internet had in December 2015 raised funds from multiple investors including Google vice-president and managing director (Southeast Asia and India) Rajan Anandan, former Genpact chief Pramod Bhasin, Siddharth Pai, son of Manipal Group Education chairman Mohandas Pai, and Manvinder Singh Banga, former member of the Unilever executive board, at a valuation of $12 million.

At 12:26 pm, the company’s stock was trading at Rs 105.50, down 2.99%, on the BSE.