Bookmyshow gets ₹550 cr funding, its fourth

NEWDELHI: Bigtree Entertainment, owner of online entertainment ticketing firm BookMy Show (BMS) has closed its fourth round of funding worth ₹550 crore, led by the US-based Stripes Group and its other existing investors, which include Network 18, Accel Partners and SAIF Partners.

The exercise comes at a time when startups and internet companies around the world are struggling to raise capital. “Good teams, business and ideas will always get funded… The money is in our bank,” said Ashish Hemrajani, CEO and co-founder of BMS, which wants to spend a sizeable amount in building technology that will help it to understand customers by creating a digital infrastructure using Big Data. It will also spend on its mobile wallet and new analytics platforms.

In 2015-16, BMS sold 100 million tickets, and 20% of the transactions happened through its closed wallet. On the other hand mobile wallet company Paytm has started partnering with cinema hall owners to offer tickets – an area where BMS controlled the majority share.

Wallets are what Hemrajani wants to grow – it allows users, especially in tier-II and III towns, to book movie tickets digitally.

The fund raised, Hemrajani said, will last for the next three to four years. Some of it will also go into creating exclusive content about entertainment – things like articles, reviews and videos about movies and actors.

International expansion too is happening. A couple of months ago BMS entered Indonesia. “But online consumption of entertainment is low, and gives us a big opportunity,” Hemrajani said.

BMS also hopes that Stripes Group will help it build a better advertising and marketing platform.

“When we look at our investors we shamelessly look at leveraging their strength,” said Hemrajani.