Seventymm, anyone? Well, here's a startup all set to make movie watching a very pleasant experience for you.
Online movie rental company Seventymm promises to deliver the movie you want to watch at your doorstep, from more than 10,000 titles from Hollywood, Bollywood and seven regional language films.
The startup has lined up big expansion plans in India. It will start operations in Delhi in a week's time and spread to six cities in India, including Mumbai, by the first quarter of next year.
The company which got a funding of $2 million in November last year, has received another round of funding of $7 million from Matrix Partners India on Tuesday.
Seventymm, formed in August 2005, began its operations in Bangalore in March 2006. Seventymm founder and chief executive officer Raghav Kher, who is based in the United States, is excited about the opportunities in India. Kher who was on a vacation in India last year realised the huge potential in the online film rental service in India and launched his third entrepreneurial venture.
"Six months down the line, the firm has put up an impressive performance in Bangalore. When we started we targetted 6,000 users in 6 months, at the end of 6 months we had 7,500 users," says a happy Kher.
No late fees, delivery at your door step, and an extensive choice of high quality films is what Seventymm offers in India. Users can also decide on the film after reading the review about the film.
Kher has targetted 1 million users in five years and revenues to the tune of $100 million.
Raghav Kher, who has successfully founded two companies' Rendition (a software services company which was later acquired by a US firm for $40 million) and -- Imandi earlier, has no doubts that Seventymm will be a runaway success.
The company has a staff strength of 70 in Bangalore. "We have been able to hire the best brains in the industry, although hiring has become the biggest challenge for us. People in India do not like to work with startups, so it has been tough to hire people," says Kher.
"Everything else is in place in India. Getting 10 phone lines in our office took just one week," he exclaims.
The company will have a staff of 50 in the New Delhi office. By next year, the strength will go up as the company plans to hire about 100 for each centre in six cities.
Upbeat on the DVD, VCD market in India, Kher says, "About 1 million DVD and VCD players are sold in India every month and this will generate huge opportunity for a rental service like Seventymm."
