PictureTime has 10 mobile cinema theatres in remote villages of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Bengaluru: PictureTime, an operator of low-cost mobile cinema theatres in rural areas, on Wednesday said it has raised Rs25 crore in a pre-Series A funding from a group of wealthy individuals.
The round was led by Ajay Relan, founder chairman of private equity firm CX Partners. The company did not disclose details of other investors.
The Bengaluru-based company has 10 mobile cinema theatres in remote villages of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. It will use the funds to add 100 new mobile theatres units by March 2019.
A company spokesperson said the start-up sources hardware systems like projectors, speakers, seats, and other equipment from standard vendors in India and the mobile set-up costs around Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore, depending on the size.
The facility can accommodate up to 120 people at a time.
PictureTime also has revenue-sharing tie-ups with film distributors to showcase ongoing movie titles.
The company’s mobile cinema theatres are built using a fireproof inflatable canopy. The full set-up can be installed within two hours along with facilities like surround sound, air conditioning, Wi-Fi hotspot and micro ATMs. Tickets are priced in the range of Rs30 to Rs50.
Apart from serving as a cinema theatre, the premises are also used by government and private organizations an outreach location to promote their schemes. The outside areas of the theatre can be converted into a food court or an entertainment area.
“Our aim is to use technology to not only provide high quality entertainment to rural India, but to also use our mobile digiplex cinema theatres as an outreach vehicle to generate awareness on educational and government schemes on initiatives around Digital India, Skill India and…we are also trying to curb the problems of piracy in remote rural areas by releasing new movies simultaneously in the locations we are present in,” said Sushil Chaudhary, chief executive office, PictureTime in a statement.
