Not a laughing matter: Online comedies seek to raise funds from big investors

Investment in films by big production houses is well known in India. But with increasing internet penetration, online comedies are also attracting huge investor interest, says a report in The Hindu BusinessLine. It is a rising market valued at $1 billion and attracts investors on the digital platform network, the report says.

India ‘s internet penetration is higher at 243 million users, more than US and second to China. Facebook, unarguably the world’s biggest internet networking site, has said India has 100 million users, with 84 million users accessing it through mobile phones.

According to a McKinsey 2012 survey_Online and upcoming: The Internet’s Impact on India’ ,_ India’s base of about 120 million Internet users is the third-largest in the world. As a country, we are likely to have thesecond-largest user base in the world, and the largest in termsof incremental growth, with 330million to 370million Internet users in 2015.

Most importantly, the Mckinsey survey revealed that India has the potential to double its economic contribution from the Internet in the nextthreeyears, from 1.6percent of GDP at present to 2.8 to 3.3percent by 2015.

The biggest shakeup in the internet space was the Flipkart-Myntra deal and there are a number of e-commerce companies that are marquee names such as Pepperfry, Jabong, etc who have announced fundraising in the past few months.

However, it is for the first time that a entertainment firm with comedy as its genre that has announced its plans for fundraising.The Viral Fever-One (TVF One), online entertainment division of the TVF group, is in talks to raise a phenomenal $20 million, says the report.

The company is looking to raise the money from domestic and international investor groups and also individual investors. The timeframe it has in mind is 1-3 years. “We will be announcing the first phase of the investment soon,” said Arunabh Kumar, an IIT-ian who is the founder.TVF One was founded in 2010 and is yet to break even.

According to the report, All India Bakchod will also be looking to raise capital in the near future.

Read the entire HBL report here .