SMSCountry, a Hyderabad-based enterprise messaging and advertisement-based free SMS services provider, is planning to raise a $5-million (approximately Rs 23 crore) venture capital fund to support its domestic and overseas expansion plans, said its chief executive officer Satya Kalyan Yerramsetti.
“We are looking at tapping the opportunity arising out of the anti-spam regulations laid down by the Chinese government. Demand from the people there to send user-generated messages is on the rise and we will enter this market within the next one year to cash in on this demand,” he told Business Standard.
According to the market research report ‘China Telecom Analysis’ by RNCOS, a market research consulting services company specialising in telecom, biopharmaceuticals, retail and information technology, China’s telecom value-added services (VAS) market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 27 per cent by 2012, of which mobile VAS will account for 95 per cent.
Yerramsetti said the company, through its portal 160by2.com, currently delivers 600 million SMSes messages per year through technology that can process 600 messages per second. “We are already present in some parts of the UAE. We are now planning to replicate our business model in countries like Egypt, Lebanon and Syria during the 2010 calendar,” he said.
SMSCountry currently has a staff strength of 210 at its delivery centre in Htyderabad and 11 sales offices across the country, which it plans to ramp up to 600 and 40 respectively this year.
“Strict implementation of the ani-spam regulations, including in India, only reinforces our business,” Yerramsetti said, adding the company is targetting to achieve Rs 12 crore revenues this financial year, as compared with Rs 7 crore last year.