NDTV enters online wedding mkt, arm raises fund from CerraCap

Media group NDTV today announced its foray into online wedding market space with its new venture Special Occasion Ltd, which has raised an undisclosed sum from US-based CerraCap Ventures.
The fund raising puts the valuation of Special Occasion at USD 20 million, NDTV said in a statement.
The group has appointed Sachin Singhal as a CEO of Special Occasion, in which Baseline -- a sports marketing, entertainment and licensing firm, is also in the process for investment.
Commenting on the development, NDTV Group CEO NDTV Vikram Chandra said: "Weddings' is yet another business where we already have a high brand recall through our marquee shows in the wedding space. We are confident that with CerraCap's investments, we will be able to roll the latest of the NDTV ecommerce ventures, successfully."

He said the investment by venture capital firm CerraCap is a validation of the group's digital strategy.
"We have been able to demonstrate our capability with indianroots.Com, gadget360.Com, carandbike.Com, all of which have seen keen investor interest," Chandra added.

Sounding bullish on the wedding industry in India, CerraCap Ventures Managing Partner Saurabh Suri said it is a USD 40 billion market, which is highly disorganised and has operated the same way for decades.
"With India's growing tech savvy populous, this market is ripe for disruption. Special Occasions has the right team, vision and platform to enable this disruption and be a leader in this space," Suri added.

Baseline Managing Director Tuhin Mishra said: "We are very excited with this tie-up and are so gungho about the concept of wedding and festival ecommerce that Baseline too would be investing into this."
Baseline had facilitated CerraCap's foray into the new venture of NDTV.