RockeTalk to raise $10 mn from VC funds

Mobile social networking company RockeTalk today said it will raise about $8-10 million from venture capital funds by July this year to fund its expansion in India and abroad.

RockeTalk, which claims to have over nine million registered users in India, offers social networking services, like popular social networking sites Facebook and Orkut, on mobile phones.

"Since our formation two-and-a-half years back, we have received about $10 million in VC funding. With the growth that we are now witnessing, we are looking at raising another $8-10 million in VC funding by July this year," RockeTalk CEO Rajiv Kumar said.

The funds would be used to further expand its operations in other markets like Middle East and Australia and expanding existing infrastructure, he added.

The company, which expects to break by this year, has tie ups with handset makers like Samsung, LG, Lava and Micromax.

"We have 4.5 million active users (who have accessed the application in last 30 days). With our application now available pre-bundled in many phones (brands), it allows us to reach more markets," Kumar said.

The company is targeting to reach 20 million subscribers over the next 12-18 months, he added.

RockeTalk also has users in other regions like south east Asia, US and Australia. The company is in discussion with other handset makers, but declined to comment on the names.

Social networking has steadily gained traction in the Indian market. With the success of websites like Facebook, Orkut and Twitter, marketers are now actively looking at using the platform to popularise their brands since the reach of these portals is huge.

According to comScore, Facebook had about 20.9 million visitors in July 2010, while Orkut had 19.9 million visitors.