Data2info Plans To Garner $1m Venture Funds

Dotcom firm data2information.com, which has recently launched a health information-related vertical website check4health.com, will be raising $1 million through venture capital funds this financial year.

On the cards at a later stage is a plan to transform the site into a vortal, which would provide links to international health-related websites and portals. There are plans as well to launch an Indian art portal by June.

Garnering $1 million during the year is part of a comprehensive two-three year financial plan, which entails two rounds of venture capital funding and finally an initial public offering after breaking even in the next one-two years. The company had raised Rs 2.5-crore seed capital through Smifs Capital Markets in March.

Jayanta Banerjee, the company's chief marketing officer and one of the promoters, said that the funds raised in 2000-1 would primarily be utilised in setting up brick and mortar presence in the six cities in India for which the website provides health-related information.

The other expenditures include advertisement, publicity, content and technology.

Banerjee said that the company aims to cover the entire country by 2002-2003 in terms of disseminating healthcare-related information. While currently the vertical website provides valuable information about healthcare facilities in Calcutta, Mumbai, Delhi, Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad, the second round of expansion will include Pune, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh. The company at present has a 10,000-strong database, which is expected to increase 10 times by the end of this year.

Smifs Capital Markets is the single-largest shareholder in the company. Other stake holders include professionals like the chief executive officer of the company, Kumar Dasgupta, a chartered accountant, Subir Nag, an electrical engineer and a networking technologist, Jayanta Banerjee, an engineering and management professional and A K Chatterjee, the chief medical advisor.