BCCL's Brand Capital completes $2 million investment in QYOU Media

The proceeds of the initial $2 million investment by BCI will go into India operations across distribution, ad sales, content licensing and brand marketing

Brand Capital International (BCI), the strategic investment arm of Bennett Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL), has completed its initial investment of US$2 million in common shares of QYOU Media. It intends to use the proceeds of the initial US$2 million investment by BCI to grow the India operations across distribution, ad sales, content licensing and brand marketing.

Concurrent with its initial US$2M investment, the parties have built in opportunities for an incremental US$6M to be invested into QYOU by BCI. This transaction, announced earlier this year, was formally approved last week by the Reserve Bank of India.

QYOU, with offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, and Mumbai, has grown sharply in 2021 driven by the performance of The Q India, its rapidly growing, four-year-old advertiser supported and influencer-marketing supported Hindi language content brand. It includes The Q television channel and VOD offerings across multiple platforms. QYOU Media also is expanding its advertising power in the India market via its subsidiary Chtrbox, one of India's leading influencer marketing firms.

As part of the initial investment, Neville Taraporewalla, President of The Times Group, North America & Brand Capital International has been granted an observer position with the Board of Directors of QYOU Media.
Neville Taraporewalla commented, “Since our first engagement with the QYOU Media leadership team, we were able to find synergies and agreed on the common objective of ‘Winning in India. In order to achieve QYOU’s objective to accelerate its operations in India, there is no better strategic partner than the Times Group to provide the necessary expertise to grow in a noisy complex market like India and help build an India strategy like we have for some leading global brands."

Curt Marvis, CEO and Co-Founder of QYOU Media, commented, “We are thrilled to welcome Brand Capital and The Times Group on board as strategic investors. During the time since our initial meeting, our business has continued to grow, and we are realizing our goal of becoming a leading youth brand in India. The knowledge, expertise, and support in the India market of India’s largest media conglomerate will accelerate The Q India's rise to new levels of brand awareness, audience engagement and financial success. I am also happy to welcome Brand Capital's Neville Taraporewalla, who will hold an Observer position on QYOU's Board of Directors.”

The parties were brought together by veteran US-India M&E executive and entrepreneur, Ken Silverman, CEO of the Indus Global Media, and a colleague of the partners of both companies. He stated, “The Times Group and QYOU are each in their own way pioneers and trendsetters in the Indian M&E space. They're both also deeply committed to serving young India, which is now more than 50% of the 1.3B population. Collaboration between them makes perfect sense. I anticipate absolutely stellar outcomes.”