News Broadcasting firm NDTV has confirmed that shareholders have given green signal to sale of its automobile ecommerce firm Fifth Gear Ventures to Autobyte Private Limited. The move comes barely two months after Autobyte reportedly invested undisclosed amount in Fifth Gear Ventures.
NDTV sought approval for subscription of equity shares by Autobyte Private Limited in Fifth Gear Ventures Limited. The same has been approved by over 99% shareholders, according to company’s latest filing in BSE.
Fifth Gear Ventures Limited operated automobile online shopping portal carandbike.com. The portal was partly inspired by cardekho.com, which is by far the most funded startup in this space. Carandbike.com claims to boost 42 manufacturers and 336 models on its portal. The portal used this rich data in helping car enthusiasts on several multiple fronts: from informing about new car arrivals, offering unbiased car reviews, making informed buying decision to actually selling cars.
The online automotive market is touted for impressive growth, with quite a few startups in this space recently managed to raise funds from investors. This includes CarTrade that raised $55 Mn in fresh round of funding and Droom raising $20 Mn (INR 130 Cr) in Series C round. The other competitors in this space include Carwale, MahindraFirstChoice, Carnation and Zigwheels.
NDTV Refutes Takeover Rumors
Meanwhile, last week NDTV refuted media reports that SpiceJet owner Ajay Singh has bought a control stake in the company. This obviously means that NDTV’s promoters Prannoy and Radhika Roy have as of now managed to keep their ownership stake intact.
However, there is no denying that this media company is not going through a very good time, with many corruption charges leveled against it. Nearly two months back, Prannoy and Radhika Roy’s homes were raided by CBI, causing yet another blow & embarrassment for the media house.