Raghav Bahl invests $7.2 million more in ‘The Quint’

Bengaluru, June 18 (IANS) Serial media entrepreneur Raghav Bahl invested an additional $7.2 million (Rs 50 crore) in his flagship news website 'The Quint', said data intelligence platform paper.vc on Tuesday.

"According to regulatory filings by Quintillion Media Ltd, Bahl has invested $7.2 million in The Quint out of $21.5 million (Rs 150 crore) he will invest in three tranches, with the latest investment as the first tranch," said the media firm's filing.

Media czar Bahl launched The Quint in 2014 after exiting from Network 18 he founded following its take-over by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Group.

The latest investment follows two consecutive investments in March and April, totalling $14.36 million (100 crore).

"In total, Bahl is deploying $36.13 million (Rs 252 crore) in capital, which is an unprecedented investment, considering the cumulative investment of $21.5 million since the company was founded five years ago," said the Chennai-based paper.vc in a statement to IANS.

Bahl launched the news portal in English and Hindi with Ritu Kapur initially on the world's largest social media platform Facebook in January 2015 and subsequently as a website in March 2015.

Incidentally, Bahl has been under the scanner of the Income-Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate over the alleged money laundering case arising out of reported tax evasion.

Tax sleuths raided the residence and office of Bahl last year in the tax evasion case registered against him and Kapur under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

In a statement later, Bahl, however, said he was astonished to see a blatant attempt by the government's "spin masters" to say the raid was part of a year-long investigation into some long-term capital gains scam.

Over the last six months, Bahl has been the target of an extended investigation by the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate.