Intrasoft Technologies Limited (Intrasoft) the company behind 123greetings.com has decided to open its Initial Public Offering (IPO) for subscription on Tuesday March 23, 2010 at a price band of 137-145 and is looking to float 37 lac shares which will raise over 50 crores from the markets.
123greetings.com recieved over 15 million unique visitors last year and is by far the largest online greetings portal in India as per comscore.
Namita Ved from WATMedia met up with Arvind Kajaria the Managing Director of the company asked him:
How did you come up with the idea behind 123greetings?
It was more by accident rather than design. We did not have a business plan. A friend of mine had sent me a chirstmas card that I forwarded to my friends then that card got forwarded to 26000 people. I found that very exciting and decided to start 123greetings.com
How does the business of online greetings work?
The business is advertising driven. As more and more users view the greetings the impressions go up and thats what we sell to advertisers
What the scope of growth in the space?
The number of online users is growing and everyone has a birthday, anniversary, fall in love and we have a card for every occassion.
So more the number of users of internet grow the more our business will grow.
How will funds from the IPO be used?
We are looking for inorganic growth and these funds will help us in that endeavour. The money will be used to attract new users for the portal
Will 123greetings take the online to offline route?
We believe is that our actual expertise is online and unless there is a profitable model that we see in going offline we wont be taking that route.
What is your advice for entrepreneurs to go from Idea to IPO?
You must have an idea that has a clear monetization model. Many companies don’t know how exactly they will make money and money that can be scalable.
The price band of Rs 137-145 seems to be high.The valuations don’t seem to be justified by its business model.
IPO basis the advertising revenue alone? Seriously ?
Its OK that they want to get out and reap benefits for their work, doubt the biz model, scalability and robustness…
Any specific reason, my comment has not appeared ? I posted it in morning !!
Anil