9.9 mediaworx (earlier Jasubhai Digital Media) has acquired iGovernment.in which was one of the online properties invested in by Goose Fish Media Ventures (the incubation arm of digital media firm Webchutney). 9.9 Media has been backed by Helion Ventures and as per our interview with Asheesh Gupta – Founder & Director -9.9 Mediaworx they had expressed interest in nurturing niche properties on the web. Asheesh Gupta has stated that they would look to invest in properties that are ‘an inch wide and a mile deep‘.
iGovernment.in fits the bill perfectly. I wont be surprised if many of you haven’t heard of the portal as its completely focussed on Government related Development Issues through a 360 Degree Approach—from Online to Print, Events and Research.
Founded by New Delhi-based technology journalists, Shubhendu Parth and Pravin Prashant, the portal was incubated by Goosefish Media Ventures in March 2008. iGovernment.in claims over 40,000 registered subscribers and an average 3.5 lakh visitors per month.
Going forward iGovernment.in aims at filling the existing gap of peer-to-peer learning and capacity building amongst policy makers, judiciary, bureaucrats, academicians, NGOs and the vendor community across India.
We spoke to Asheesh Gupta again on this particular deal and this is what he had to say:
On Print Plans With iGovernment
We dont have Print plans right away with iGovernment.in but certainly will look at it in the future.
On Why They Acquired iGovernment
We acquired this business as they had attracted good traction in a niche segment and our decision was based on not where they are now but the potential we see in the community in the future. At 9.9 we are focussed on B2B media verticals and iGovernment did come out as one of the verticals we were looking at both from advertiser and reader stand point. We see it as a part ecosystem we are trying to build internally.
On iGovernment’s Business Model & Revenues
I think going forward events would be a big part of their business. In 2-3 years events, print and online would have 1/3 part each in the total revenues made by iGovernment.in. iGovernment will be the 8th-9th community we have and in 3-5 years we expect it to contribute 10% of our total revenues.
