Bharti

BSB and Y2CF announce partnership for Hyper Local Commerce

Will offer world’s only mobile device-agnostic location based service under the ‘hoppr’ brand

New Delhi, May 31, 2012: Bharti Softbank (“BSB”), a 50:50 JV between Bharti Enterprises and SOFTBANK CORP focused on mobile internet, today announced that it has partnered with Gurgaon (India) based mobile start-up firm Y2CF Digital Media Pvt. Ltd. (“Y2CF”)to launch the world’s only mobile device-agnostic location based service.

Y2CF and BSB have developed the location based check-in service that works across all mobile devices, with the aim tobuild the hyper local commerce ecosystem in India, wherein consumers get to explore rewards and offers available with brands and merchants in their vicinity. The BSB-Y2CF partnership plans to launch this service under the ‘hoppr ’brand name. Under the partnership, BSB has taken an equity stake in Y2CFwith the option of acquiring majority stake in the company.

BSB, which began operations in October 2011, aims to actively participate in the growth of mobile internet in India with focus on Social Media, Gaming and Commerce verticals.

Commenting on the partnership, Kavin Bharti Mittal, BSB’s Head of Strategy & New Product Development said,“When we look at the e-commerce space in India, we see enough companies doing a good job of solving the problem of online retail. India has over 900 million subscribers that are always connected to a network but there still doesn't exist a quick and simple way to find what they’re looking for offline in the world around them. This is the unique opportunity we see, in creating a bridge between the Online and Offline worlds. We believe such a platform could also help organize the vastly unorganized merchant base by connecting them with consumers who have such devices near them. We are delighted to see the passion and commitment of the Y2CF team and look forward to working with them to build out this vision and take ‘hoppr’ to the next level.”

Y2CF has already tied up with leading mobile service providers – Airtel, Aircel, Idea, Reliance, Tata DOCOMO and Vodafone - for ‘hoppr’, which will initially cover 3000 retail outlets / locations focused in top 4 cities –Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, and offer customers great rewards and special services on the go.

Talking about the partnership, Md. Imthiaz, Founder & CEO, Y2CF said, “Mobile is the most powerful personal device carried by every consumer. We have seen mobile growing from a pre-dominant voice usage to being used for accessing information on a real-time basis. ‘hoppr’ will make sure that there isn’t a dull moment in the life of a consumer. hoppr’s location specific communication of rewards and coupons will bring alive a hyper local commerce platform which will benefit both consumers and merchants alike.”He further added, “We are very excited partnering with BSB and believe their experience in the mobile internet space will help us build a phenomenal service and add value to our business.”

Imthiaz is joined by KabeerBiswas, co-Founder and Director, who is spearheading the product innovation at Y2CF.

About Y2CF

hoppr is a brand of Y2CF Digital Media Pvt. Ltd, headquartered in Gurgaon. Y2CF is an over 90 people company with people from different fields like telecom, local merchants, online, analytics and technology.

For more information visit:http://www.hoppr.com/