Kolkata-based ad-tech startup Chikoop which is backed by Positron Internet Pvt Ltd, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from two Indore-based industrialists. The startup aims to utilize the raised funding for team expansion and product enhancement.
The Chikoop app offers unlimited calling service. The registered Android users can use the app to call someone without using internet. The startup claims to have nearly 15,000 users for its free calling service and has on-boarded more than 10 brands, including grocery, foodtech and payment solutions companies, for its audio marketing solutions.
As a mobile marketing solution, Chikoop enables brands to market to their target audience by placing ads during free calls. Also, unlike offline marketing, brands can track leads, re-target interested audience, convert leads into sales and measure real-time analytics on clicks.
The startup was founded in 2015 by Neeraj Sharda, alumnus of IIT Bombay and IIM Calcutta, and Sudhanshu Goyal, an IIM Calcutta alumni, is currently being mentored by Brand Capital, the ad-for-equity arm of Bennett, Coleman &Co. Ltd (BCCL). Sharda has previously worked with Bain & Company and Tata Strategic Management Group, while Goyal was earlier with Zee News and Adani Group.
In February 2016, several media portals reported that Ratan Tata is likely to invest funding in the Bangalore- and San Francisco-based mobile advertising platform InMobi. And in March, advertising-technology startup Proximit Media India Pvt. Ltd raised $150,000 in early-stage funding through crowdfunding platform 1Crowd.
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