The remaining Rs 2 crore will be contributed by the existing investors - LN Mittal Indian Internet Ventures and Trans Atlantic Corporation, promoted by Mr Harish Fabiani, who had together invested Rs 57 crore in the company in April 2000. "They are investing Rs 2 crore to maintain their 23 per cent stake in Indiabulls, which would otherwise have been diluted, after Infinity picked up 10 per cent," informed Mr Rajiv Rattan, co-founder and chief operating officer, Indiabulls.

However, since these investments will not be sufficient to fund the Rs 45 crore expansion plans of Indiabulls, it is already scouting for more strategic investors, in its extended second round of funding. "We expect that to happen in the next couple of months," said Mr Rattan. Meanwhile, part of the current Rs 10 crore will go in investing in technology and bankrolling the immediate expansion plans.

Indiabulls, which already has set up an offline presence in 12 cities, across the country, plans to set up around 100 offices spread over 35 cities, by the end of next year, says Mr Rattan. The company also plans to hire nearly 200 people mainly for customer support and client acquisition, over and above its current strength of 197 people, by 2001.

"Our aim is to provide multi-channel financial services, serving consumers online as well as via offline channels such as retail, telephone, and wireless," said Mr Gagan Banga, vice-president, marketing, Indiabulls. Indianbulls has already invested $1.5 million to build a fully scalable trading engine, real time risk management systems, and fast trade executions. The company will also use the current inflow of funds to further upgrade the site, to enable it to handle more traffic. "We will also mirror the site within local metros and set up a back office hub in Delhi, to integrate all online and offline transactions," said Mr Rattan.

According to Mr Rishi Sahai, fund manager, Infinity Technology Investments, after the current round of funding, 55 per cent of the equity will be held by the promoters - Sameer Gehlaut, Rajiv Rattan, and Saurabh Mittal. Ten per cent will be with the Infinity Venture Fund, which has been promoted by Saurabh Srivastava, founder and chairman, IIS Infotech; Pravin Gandhi, co-founder, Hinditron; and Gaurav Dalmia, director, Dalmia Group. Also, 13.5 per cent will be with the employees of the company as ESOPs. Indiabulls and TV-18 had called off a deal, wherein TV 18 was considering investing Rs 35 crore in the company to pick up 26 per cent.