eyantra to sell 18% stake to Mauritius VC firms Business Standard, Wednesday 7th May 2008

eYantra Industries, a Hyderabad – based corporate gifts and brand merchandising company, is set to dilute 15 – 18 per cent of its equity stake to two Mauritius – based venture capital firms to raise an undisclosed amount in series A funding. Media house Bennett, Coleman & Company (BCCL) acquired a minority stake in eYantra last June.

Confirming the development, Phani N Raj, managing director, eYantra Industries, told Business Standard that the company would close the deal within the next two weeks. “The equity dilution could be extendible to 25 per cent to one of the two VC companies (which have a combined committed capital in excess of $2 billion,) to obtain further financing through a Series B round,” he said, adding the company would utilize the funds to support its expansion plans.

The expansion plan involves setting up an apparel manufacturing facility in the Apparel Park at Gundlapochampally on Hyderabad's outskirts at an investment of Rs 3.5 crore, initiating a brand – building exercise for customer acquisition, besides going in for geographical diversification. The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) has allotted an acre in the Apparel Park for eYantra's facility. “Constructions work on the facility, which will have a 50,000-sq ft built-up area, has just begun. It will have a capacity to manufacture 600,000 T-shirts a year, besides doubling up as a centralized warehouse. The project will go on stream in nine months,” Raj said.

eYantra, which has direct presence in Hyderabad , Bangalore , Mumbai, Delhi , Chennai and Pune, is also in the process of opening marketing and sales offices in Dubai and Atlanta in the US , he added

The seven-year-old company reported revenues of Rs 25 crore last year with its intranet based customized online brand stores eTail contributing Rs 8 crore and corporate retail division cTail Rs 16 crore. The company expects revenues to touch Rs 60 crore this financial year.