U’th Time, one of India’s leading Youth Media Brands, has sold 75% of its equity to NIAM Group of Companies in a privately negotiated transaction on Wednesday, March 12 (2014). Naman Sharma, Founder and CEO of U’th Time, talking about the dilution of equity said “We have decided to dilute and get into a strategic association with one of India’s biggest innovators within the Education sector. In the past, we have received good offers from VCs from the US, but we choose NIAM as they can guide us strategically to scale up our business”. Naman is an Ex-Academic and Alumnus from University of Melbourne and has also worked with Trans National Corporations such as KPMG, ANZ Bank, Ernst and Young and HSBC.
With a Core Team of 8, U’th Time will now work in tandem with the team at NIAM. Rajiv Mehta, NIAM’s Managing Director and Vice Chairman, said “We have been analyzing and considering associations with several companies from different sectors and U’th Time gave us an opportunity to expand our strategic and synergistic profile into New Media and Information Technology – Industries we consider major economic drivers in the coming decade”.
More details about the acquisition have not been divulged as yet but sources estimate the U’th Time to have a net worth of anywhere close to USD 1,000,000, which has content partners and associates like BBC, Nike, Levis, Fastrack, Anurag Kashyap Films Ltd., Eros International, Social Media Week etc. and has a presence in India’s leading education institutions such as IITs, BITS, Symbiosis etc. Last Year, U’th Time was ranked as Top 10 Media Youth Brands by Pitch Magazine alongside MTV, Channel V, Sonic, Radio Mirchi and UTV Bindass.
With the tremendous onset of increased internet users, India’s alternate media market has flourished in the last 2-3 Years, giving space to companies like U’th Time. U’th Time now plans to focus on YouTube content to boost its presence among young audiences. U’th Time has a huge base of users on Facebook and Twitter and reaches upto 10 Million Young Indians per month. Rahul Bishnoi, Chairman of NIAM, talking about the association said “We liked the passion and commitment the team at U’th Time brings to its aim to revolutionize the alternate media space and we believe we can help them achieve their objectives at a much faster rate. We are happy to expand our group into new verticals with young innovators”
A press event is like to be expected in the coming weeks with further details on the association.
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