(2 August 2006 6:50 pm)

MUMBAI: Yahoo! Inc., and Canaan Partners, a global venture investor in technology companies, have announced that the companies have both invested US $8.65 million in BharatMatrimony.com Pvt. Ltd. Both investors will be represented on the board of the company. Veda Corporate Advisors acted as a strategic advisor to the transaction.

The BharatMatrimony Group plans to significantly expand its presence on-ground and will also invest in the global personals space. BharatMatrimony already offers content in six Indian languages and soon plans to offer content in two more languages. As part of its expansion plans, BharatMatrimony Group expects to double its headcount to 700 by the end of this year.

The company also plans to increase the number of BharatMatrimony Centres (BMC), its offline initiative, from 38 to over 300 across the country by 2008. BharatMatrimony has plans to open offices in UK and in key South East Asian markets to cater to the Indian Diaspora and to open up religion / country based matrimony portals, informs an offcial release.

The matrimony service provider with 7.5 million registered members, BharatMatrimony Group CEO Murugavel Janakiraman said, “It gives me immense pride that two of the world’s leading companies in the technology and Internet space have invested in our business. More importantly, the global knowledge, partnerships and experience that both these investors bring will help us scale our business globally. The infused capital will be used to further sustain our leadership position in the matrimony sector. The investment will also be used to enhance our portfolio of services and take them to leadership positions in their respective sectors.”

Mittal, who will represent Canaan Partners on the Board, was the founding managing director of a prominent job portal, JobsAhead.com. Janakiraman says that Mittal’s experience and expertise will give a strong competitive advantage to BharatMatrimony’s ClickJobs.com, adds the release.

Commenting on Yahoo!’s investment in BharatMatrimony, , Yahoo! Inc. chief financial officer Susan Decker said, “India is one of the fastest growing Internet markets and our investment in BharatMatrimony furthers Yahoo!’s plans to extend our leading position in the country.”

Yahoo! India managing director George Zacharias said, “BharatMatrimony Group’s strength in matrimonial and other services complements the strong offerings we already provide in the Indian market across communications, search, and mobile. On completion of the investment, Yahoo! India and BharatMatrimony Group will cooperate through a business partnership”.