Times Internet

Times Internet is an Indian digital product company which owns, operates and invests in various Internet-led products, services and technology. It is the digital arm of the Times Group, the largest media conglomerate in India.[1] Times Internet currently owns and operates 39+ digital products across news, sports, music, video, trivia, spirituality & a suite of transaction-led market-places across real estate, personal finance, education, jobs, table reservation, etc.

Times Internet
Private
Industry
Founded1999 (1999)
HeadquartersGurgaon, India
Area served
India
Key people
  • Satyan Gajwani (Vice Chairman)
  • Gautam Sinha (CEO)
Products
ParentThe Times Group
SubsidiariesSee below
Websitewww.timesinternet.in

Through its venture capital arm TVentures, Times Internet has invested in over 50 start-ups in the technology space such as logistics provider Delhivery, bus aggregating platform Shuttl, ed-tech platform Byju's, gaming platform MPL among others. Through another subsidiary Times Bridge, it has partnered with various global brands like Uber, Airbnb, The Weather Company etc. to build their presence in India.

Times Internet reaches over 450 million monthly visitors who collectively spend over 13 billion minutes across all its products and services.

History

1999 - 2012: Initial years

In its initial years, Times Internet primarily focused on digital media - handling the online versions of the Times Group which is owned by Sahu Jain family. Some major print publications includes Times of India, Economic Times and Navbharat Times.[2]

Times Internet ventured into multiple new categories with mixed success. It entered social networking and e-commerce with Indiatimes but was unable to scale the business.[3] The company achieved success with MagicBricks, an online real estate platform launched in 2006 and iDiva, a women's lifestyle portal in 2009.[4][5]

2012 - 2017: Early investments

Times Internet gradually transformed from a media-led company to a technology-led company. It became a conglomerate of multiple digital products, each operating independently within the group.

Times Internet made a series of acquisitions - buying majority stakes in MensXP in 2012,[6] Cricbuzz, Coupondunia and Dineout in 2014,[7][8][9] Taskbucks in 2015,[10] 'The Viral Shots’ and WillowTV in 2016. In 2016, it also forged a strategic alliance with Haptik, an AI-enabled chatbot service.[11] The company launched its startup accelerator, TLabs in 2012 through which it invested in upcoming digital startups like Delhivery, Pratilipi etc.

Times Internet also launched multiple new digital products - Happy Trips in 2014,[12] ETMoney and NewsPoint in 2015.[13] Also in 2015, Times Internet launched Samayam, a website that provides news in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam languages.[14] In association with HDFC Bank, it launched ‘Times Points HDFC Bank Debit Card’, an exclusive co-branded debit card in 2016.[15] It also ventured into video streaming with BoxTV in 2012 but shut it down in 2016.[16]

As its portfolio kept growing, Times Internet built Colombia, a full stack AI led ad-tech network that united all its digital products on one central platform. Through this platform, it was able to move & monetize users across its various digital properties, based on consumer interests & needs.[17]

2017 - 2019: Continued investments

Times Internet continued to acquire and launch multiple new digital products across the consumer technology space. It launched ET Insure in February 2017,[18] BrainBaazi in February 2018, and ET Prime in April 2018. It acquired 'House of God' in December 2017 [19] and partnered with Tencent to invest $115 million in Gaana in February 2018.[20]

On 28 June 2018, Times Internet acquired MX Player, the world's largest video player for $140 million.[21]

Through Times Bridge, it entered into a partnership with home improvement startup Houzz in October 2017,[22] and with IBM's The Weather Company in May 2018.[23] On 13 May 2019, Times Bridge announced a partnership with Wattpad to expand the presence of the original stories platform in India.[24]

On 20 February 2019, Times Internet re-launched MX Player as a video streaming platform, with over 100,000 hours of premium content across movies, TV and web shows etc.[25]

On 15 April 2019, Times Internet revamped its brand identity to reflect its new ‘Everything. Everyday.’ ethos that desires to bring people closer to their interests and aspirations everyday.[26]

On 24 April 2019, Times Internet participated as a lead investor in $35.5 million (Rs 250 crore) Series-A funding round of Mobile Premier League (MPL).[27]

Subsidiaries and products

List of digital products owned and managed by Times Internet as of May 2019.[26]

Product Description Note
Ahmedabad Mirror News portal focused on Ahmedabad News
Bangalore Mirror News portal focused on Bengaluru
Ei Samay News portal in Bengali
ET (The Economic Times) Business & financial news platform
ETimes Entertainment news portal
Indiatimes News and infotainment platform
Maharashtra Times News portal in Marathi
Miss Kyra Entertainment, lifestyle and fashion news portal
Navbharat Times News portal in Hindi
NavGujarat Samay News portal in Gujarati
NewsPoint News aggregation portal
Pune Mirror News portal focused on Pune
TOI (Times of India) News portal in English
Vijay Karnataka News portal in Kannada
Samayam Infotainment and News portal in Malayalam, Telugu, and Tamil
Astrospeak Astrology and horoscope service
BaaziNow Live video and gaming platform
CouponDunia Deals discovery platform
Cricbuzz Cricket infotainment platform
CricPlay Cricket Fantasy App
Databack Data savings service
Dineout Table reservation service
ETMONEY Personal money management service
Gaana Music streaming platform
MX PlayerVideo player and streaming platform
Get Me a Shop Offline to online eCommerce service
Happy Trips Travel guide & information portal
iDiva Women's lifestyle portal
MagicBricks Real estate listings & information portal
MensXP Men's lifestyle portal
Speaking Tree Spirituality platform and network
Taskbucks Reward based discovery platform
TechGig Technology platform and community
Times Card Lifestyle focused credit cards
Times Jobs Jobs listings portal
Times Prime Digital subscriptions platform
Whats Hot Local guide to your city
Willow Cricket broadcast platform
Gradeup Exam Preparation App
gollark: But you'd also want support for multiple fuels.
gollark: Or just a MSR checkbox on the planner.
gollark: we could use an MSR planner.
gollark: Otherwise LEA-something.
gollark: When I say any fuel I mean just pick any which would be good.

References
  1. "Biggest names in music rock Gaana show". India Post. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  2. "Times Internet's Gautam Sinha On Turning A Legacy Media Company Into A Conglomerate Of 37 Digital Startups - Inc42 Media". Inc42 Media. 26 December 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  3. "Times Internet Scaling Down E-commerce Operations".
  4. "Magicbricks.com awarded the best online realty portal". Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  5. "iDiva.com wins 2 million hearts in 6 months". The Economic Times. 19 June 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  6. "Times Internet acquires men's lifestyle portal MensXP". The Economic Times. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  7. "Times Internet acquires Cricbuzz". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  8. "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  9. indiainfoline.com. "Times Internet acquires majority stake in Coupondunia". Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  10. "Times Internet acquires majority stake in Taskbucks for $15M". VCCircle. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  11. "Haptik, an India-based mobile concierge service, raises $11.2M from Times Internet – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  12. "Times Internet launches travel portal, HappyTrips.com". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  13. "ET Money's big billion feat". The Economic Times. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  14. "Times Internet launches Samayam – digital news & infotainment brand in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam - Exchange4media". Exchange4media. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  15. indiainfoline.com. "Times Internet associates with HDFC Bank to launch 'Times Points HDFC Bank Debit Card'". Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  16. "Times Internet acquires MX Player. For $200 million - The Ken". The Ken. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  17. "Times Internet's Gautam Sinha On Turning A Legacy Media Company Into A Conglomerate Of 37 Digital Startups - Inc42 Media". Inc42 Media. 26 December 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  18. "Times Internet launches ETinsure.com to simplifyinsurance buying, claims". The Economic Times. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  19. "Times Internet Acquires Spiritual Content Startup House Of God; Enters The Country's $40 Bn Religious Market". Inc42 Media. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  20. "Tencent Is Said to Lead $115 Million Deal in India's Gaana". Bloomberg.com. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  21. "India's Times Internet buys popular video app MX Player for $140M to get into streaming – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  22. "Online marketplace for homeowners Houzz partners with Times Bridge to tap India - MediaNama". www.medianama.com. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  23. "Times Bridge joins hand with IBM's The Weather Company to provide personalise climate coverage to Indian users - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  24. "Wattpad and Times Bridge announce partnership to expand former's India presence". The Economic Times. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  25. "Times Internet to launch new avatar of MX Player on February 20". www.afaqs.com. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  26. "Times Internet: Everything. Everyday". timesinternet.in. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  27. www.ETtech.com. "MPL secures Rs 250 cr from Go-Jek arm, Sequoia India & Times Internet - ETtech". ETtech.com. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
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