Delhi based travel entertainment startup Press Play founded by Ex-Zomato executives has raised $500,000 (Rs.3 crore apprx.) in funding from a group of angel investors. The names of angel investors are undisclosed. The funds will be used to buy hardware and also to set up operations in various cities.
PressPlay was founded in December 2013 by by Anand Sinha and George Abraham both of whom were country heads at Zomato before quitting their jobs to start Press Play. The Delhi based startup had earlier recieved $1 million in its first funding round.
The company provides tablets to passengers who travel long journeys in buses for a cost of Rs.100. The tablets can be attached to the seats and are pre-loaded with movies and music.
In its initial days the startup launched a pilot project in April this year by travelling to Amritsar in a bus with 10 tablets pre-loaded with five movies each for Rs 100 and managed to sell them.
Till now Press Play claims to have reached 25,000 customers for its services across eight cities and the startup is looking to launch in cities like Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai in the next 40 days. The startup has also tied up with the state transport corporations of Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan and a taxi rental company to provide its services.
Once a bus is about to depart from its starting point, an operator from PressPlay comes to the bus and pitches the product (tablet) to the travelers. The startup has partnered with most of the content providers, including movies, TV Shows, documentaries and games. Before the journey, they make sure their tabs are already fully charged. Once the travelers opt for it, they are charged Rs.100 for the entire journey. The tabs are attached with hardware which gets locked to the seat in front, making sure people don’t leave with it.
In conversation with LiveMint Co-founder Anand Sinha stated that Press Play has also partnered with games studios and movie production houses for content. It is looking at growing its current employee base of 80 to 300 and increasing its presence to 50 cities by the end of this fiscal year. "Having worked with Zomato, we have experience in overseas expansion. We are looking to expand to international destinations by the end of 2015," said Sinha.
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