Mumbai : Citibank and Edelweiss Capital funded women's site iCleo.com has scaled down its operations and a total closure of the venture may be just round the corner. Speaking to eFE, Mr Rashesh Shah, Co Founder of investment bank Edelweiss Capital said, "We have scaled down the business considerably and most of the team has already left us."Attributing the impending closure to the lack of online advertising revenues, Mr Shah said, "Our revenues were entirely based on online advertising like most vertical portals and we don't really see that picking up in India for the moment".
The lack of advertising revenues coupled with the inability to raise finances has made it difficult for vertical portals to meet their working capital requirements.
"I see vertical sites probably picking up about a year down the line", says Mr Shah. He was not sure if the site is likely to make a comeback at that point. "Its open ended as of now", he said.iCleo had merged with another woman site SmartBahu.com last year in an all-stock deal.
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