Venturenet Partners, promoters of internet radio service - Radiowalla, has raised Series A funding from Ojas Venture Partners, according to ET. Pavan Krishnamurthy and Raghu Batta from Ojas Venture Partners will join Venturenet's board.

The capital infusion will be used to expand services and features of its direct-to-consumer radio service - Radiowalla - and its in-store broadcasting network, Spot Radio.

Radiowalla is the first ever broadband delivered radio network, offering a bouquet of 30 channels. It is available for a monthly subscription fee and can be accessed via multiple devices with broadband connectivity. Devices such as computers, smart mobile phones, iPods, tablets, and so on.

Spot Radio helps brands build their own branded radio channel that plays exclusively on all locations with customised content like music, promos, announcements and ads, which help increase sales, generate ad revenue and keep the customer engaged with the brand.

Venturenet is led by Anil Srivatsa, and Harvinderjeet Bhatia. Srivatsa has been a media veteran since the past 20 years and had his own radio show called Anil Ki Awaaz, running for more than 10 years in New Jersey, USA. He has also been executive VP of new business and affiliate sales at ImaginAsian Entertainment Inc., a NYC-based multi-media company.

After moving back to India, Srivatsa went on to become CEO of Kings XI Punjab, and was also CFO of Meow 104.8 FM. Bhatia is a CA by profession, and was CFO of Radio Mirchi.

Unlike in the west, internet radio, or webcasting, is yet to take off in India, with only a handful of companies, such as Radio Verve and MyOpusRadio, entering the space.

Ojas is a $35 Mn India focussed early stage VC firm focused on technology companies and typically makes first round investments in the range of $250,000 to $1.5 Mn. It then participates in subsequent rounds up to a maximum of $3 Mn per company over the life of the company.

Its portfolio companies include, mobile financial services firm - Tyfone, mobile answer engine firm - Ziva, campus recruitment portal - CoCubes.com, mobile solutions company - TeliBrahma and in Arigami Semiconductor Systems.

More recently, it invested in online advertising firm Vizury Interactive Solutions Pvt Ltd along with Inventus Capital

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