WestBridge picks up stake in Mauj Tele

Wireless solutions provider Mauj Telecom has received an investment from leading venture capitalist WestBridge Capital Partners.

Even though the exact investment size could not be ascertained, it is slated as one of the major deals in the domestic mobile value added services (VAS) market.

"WestBridge was looking for investing in start-ups or medium size companies, and it has invested in Mauj Telecom, a mobile content provider. The company will use the funding for its ongoing operations and expansion plans," sources close to the deal told Business Standard here today.

Despite repeated attempts, company officials could not be contacted for comments.

WestBridge Capital Partners is a leading venture capital fund with over $350 million under its management. It focuses primarily on high growth services, IT and outsourced services.

The VC has offices in Silicon Valley, US, and Bangalore. This is the second investment by WestBridge in an Indian company, the earlier being in Nazara, another Mumbai-based mobile content company.

Mauj Telecom is a provider of mobile content and applications (like games, wallpapers, ringtones, news and matrimonials), mobile software and services (middleware solutions, roaming applications and SMS dateways) and mobile media solutions (advertising and branding), among others.

The company is also into localisation of mobile content, offers content in vernacular languages.

It is also the wireless division of the People Infocom, a company involved in Internet businesses and owns portals like Shaadi.com and Fropper.com. It is also into film production through its subsidiary, People Pictures.

People Infocom, a People Group company, was founded in 1997.

Mauj games in Indian languages are available on major providers, including Idea, Hutch, Spice, BSNL and MTNL, and on Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola handsets.