IAN & Sequoia Capital swapped holding in Jigsee with stake in VC-backed Vuclip

XinLab Inc., which operates under the brand Vuclip, acquired Mumbai and Toronto-based mobile video streaming startup Jigsee in an all-stock deal while early investors Indian Angel Network (IAN) and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, who had invested in Jigsee two years ago, swapped stake to become shareholders of VC-backed Vuclip.

Two weeks ago, Vuclip announced it was acquiring the core assets of Jigsee for an undisclosed amount. However, it had not shared details of the transaction.

"This is a stock-swap deal and no cash is involved," IAN president Padmaja Ruparel told Techcircle.in.

She did not disclose the quantum of stake that IAN would hold in Vuclip or the valuation of the deal, but said, "The IAN members will now own shares in Vuclip and this is a great opportunity for us. This will give us a presence and threshold in an overseas market, and stake in a strong niche technology brand like Vuclip."

Ruparel said IAN would not have a board representation in Vuclip.

Jigsee raised its first round of funding (estimated to be a little over $1 million) from IAN two years ago and Sequoia Capital also took part in that round. Angel investor Piyush Shah joined the board of Jigsee back then as part of the IAN investment while Sequoia Capital's investment was led by Mohit Bhatnagar's team. Jigsee had also secured an angel round in July 2010.

Jigsee was founded by Ray Newal, who had earlier headed content and business development at Yahoo! Canada. Its CTO, Areef Reza, had worked with Vayyoo Inc, Research In Motion (now BlackBerry) and Nortel Networks.

Vuclip was set up in 2008 by Nickhil Jakatdar. Prior to Vuclip, Jakatdar was instrumental in setting up and running three successful startups – Praesaugus, CommandCAD and Timbre Technologies.

It is backed by investors such as New Enterprise Associates, SingTel Innov8 and JAFCO, and has reportedly raised around $35 million till date.

According to its website, Vuclip brings 25 million video views to consumers worldwide. It works with content partners, operators, advertisers and OEMs to give consumers mobile video experience. Vuclip has a 120-strong team with offices in Milpitas (US), Delhi, Singapore, Beijing, Shenzhen and Dubai.

IAN, which has more than 200 angel investors as members and has funded more than 44 startups across sectors, invested around $11 million in 14 startups in 2012. Although Jigsee is not a pre-play exit, IAN is looking to make one exit from a previous investment by mid-2013, said Ruparel.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)