Indian music streaming firm Hungama raising $100 mn

Indian media company Hungama that provides music, videos and movies on mobile, desktop and beyond, is on the cusp of raising more than $100 million, according to a media report.

The media company is in "advanced" talks with existing investors Intel Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners, which fronted a $40 million raise last summer, TechCrunch reported citing sources close to the company.

Intel Capital invested an undisclosed sum in the business in 2012, it said.

Founded in 2005 as a marketing and communications agency, Hungama eyeing the growth of mobile branched out to entertainment in 2009 to today emerge as "arguably India's most prominent player in that space."

The soon-to-be-completed round will be used to grow the company's footprint on mobile, tapping into the vast growth in adoption of smartphones that is expected in India, TechCrunch said.

More specifically Hungama will invest to develop its technology, platforms and increase its content libraries, it said.

The money could be used to acquire other market players, it said citing company sources.

The total audience for Hungama's services hit 48 million users in February. Of that figure, a whopping 43 million consumed content on a mobile device, with 13.8 million paying for some form of content across its platform.

Hungama's services were used by 227 million consumers during its last financial year, with around one-third spending money in some way.

Unlike it competitors in India like Times India-owned Gaana, Saavn and Rdio, Hungama goes beyond music to offer Netflix-like movies, TechCrunch said

"With India's music and film scene closely tied together, the company is betting that this synergy and its international catalogue - which just added Disney and Marvel - will help it stand apart from the rest," the web site said.

Being included on Facebook's free Internet.org portal, which just arrived in India, doesn't hurt too, it said.