News

Mumbai, August 2, 2006: Yahoo! Inc., a leading global Internet company and Canaan Partners, a global early stage venture investor in innovative technology companies, today announced that the companies have both invested US $8.65 million in BharatMatrimony.com Pvt. Ltd, the No. 1 matrimony service provider with 7.5 million registered members. Both investors will be represented on the board of the company. Veda Corporate Advisors acted as a strategic advisor to the transaction.

Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO, BharatMatrimony Group, said, "It gives me immense pride that two of the world's leading companies in the technology and Internet space have invested in our business. More importantly, the global knowledge, partnerships and experience that both these investors bring will help us scale our business globally. The infused capital will be used to further sustain our leadership position in the matrimony sector. The investment will also be used to enhance our portfolio of services and take them to leadership positions in their respective sectors."

The BharatMatrimony Group plans to significantly expand its presence on-ground and will also invest in the global personals space. BharatMatrimony is the first portal to offer content in six Indian languages and the company soon plans to offer content in two more languages. As part of its expansion plans, BharatMatrimony Group expects to double its headcount to 700 by the end of this year.

The company also plans to increase the number of BharatMatrimony Centres (BMC), its offline initiative, from 38 to over 300 across the country by 2008. BharatMatrimony has plans to open offices in UK and in key South East Asian markets to cater to the Indian Diaspora and to open up religion / country based matrimony portals.

Alok Mittal, executive director - India, Canaan Partners, said, "We are very excited to be an investor in BharatMatrimony. The company is very well positioned to grow rapidly and maintain its leadership in the Indian Internet landscape while continuing to be a highly valuable company from a social standpoint. The company's services truly change the lives of millions of Indians around the world. India is one of the key markets for Canaan Partners and we are looking at creating lasting partnerships in the technology space and generating shareholder wealth over the coming years." Mittal, who will represent Canaan Partners on the Board, was the founding managing director of a prominent job portal, JobsAhead.com. Janakiraman says that Mittal's experience and expertise will give a strong competitive advantage to BharatMatrimony's ClickJobs.com.

Commenting on Yahoo!'s investment in BharatMatrimony, Susan Decker, chief financial officer, Yahoo! Inc. said, "India is one of the fastest growing Internet markets and our investment in BharatMatrimony furthers Yahoo!'s plans to extend our leading position in the country."

George Zacharias, managing director, Yahoo! India said, "BharatMatrimony Group's strength in matrimonial and other services complements the strong offerings we already provide in the Indian market across communications, search, and mobile. On completion of the investment, Yahoo! India and BharatMatrimony Group will cooperate through a business partnership".