Celebrity Commerce Platform GoNuts Launches GoNuts for Business

(L- R) Vinamra Pandiya, Founder, GoNuts, Joji George, Co-Founder, GoNuts, Mayank Gupta, Co-Founder GoNuts

Business Wire India

GoNuts, Asia’s largest and most influential celebrity commerce platform, launched GoNuts for business, that aims to be the trusted platform for start-ups and MSMEs to build their brands and use celebrities across music/television/film/sports and lifestyle to make their marketing and brand promotions effective.
 
GoNuts thus provides start-ups, the opportunity to connect to a wide range of celebrities to create branded content, brand promotions and brand endorsements. GoNuts for business will cater to the marketing needs of over 50 million SMEs in India. Access to celebrities and influencers has thus far been the prerogative of large brands and agencies. GoNuts plans to democratise access, cost effectively, by being the trusted pipe to enterprises across India.
 
GoNuts has a portfolio of over 800 leading celebrities; most of them exclusive on GoNuts, across categories like films, television, sports and music, amongst others. This gives brand custodians a diverse range of celebrities to choose from that aligns with their audiences. Few of the leading celebrities on the platform include Shankar Mahadevan, Hans Raj Hans, Shaan, Kailash Kher, Sukhbir, Talat Aziz, ShibaniKashyap, Hariharan, Sivamani, Shivin Narang, Jonty Rhodes, Sumeet Verma, Ranveer Brar, Ashish Vidyarthi and Vicky Ratnani.
 
Commenting on the launch Mayank Gupta, Co-Founder, GoNuts, said, “Businesses always evaluate their investment in terms of ‘bang for buck’. We are glad to announce GoNuts for business that now helps MSMEs compete with larger and more established brands, by giving them the opportunity to use celeb driven brand promotions. We aim to be the only fully tech-enabled platform to get celebrities across genres, price points and languages on-demand to enable businesses market better and make peoples lives richer. Start-ups and SME’s, who form the core of India’s business, have thus far not been able to navigate the opacity of the entertainment industry and get access to celebrities that is trustworthy. With GoNuts, we provide more than 800 celebrities who will now be accessible to business owners and MSMEs at prices they can afford. We hope to disrupt the $10b traditional advertising and marketing landscape in India.”
 
Adding to this Vinamra Pandiya, Founder, GoNuts, said, “Celebrities lose out on a lot of work and volume of business due to price irrationality and middlemen who in most cases have their own interest ahead of the artist. This opacity and access is what GoNuts for Business will now solve at the click of a button. Prices for brand promotions and branded content starts from as low as Rs 10,000 up to a couple of lakhs depending on the star and the need of the brand.”
 
The uniqueness of the platform is its ability to connect the Indian and global Indian diaspora to celebrities and influencers that are multi genre, multi-lingual and also at multi-segmented price points.

Celebrity-Fan Engagement Start-up Gonuts Raises Seed Round from 9Unicorns, Sweta Rau, Archana Priyadarshini, others

Gonuts aspires to connect fans with top celebrities through personalised video messaging

Gonuts, Asia's largest and most influential celebrity commerce platform has raised INR 3.5 Crores in seed funding led by marquee investors Sweta Rau and ArchanaPriyadarshini. 9Unicorns, AngelList, Lets Venture, Pankaj Chaddah (Co-Founder, Mindhouse & Zomato), Ramakant Sharma, (Co-Founder, LivSpace), IIM Indore Alumni Fund, Harshal Morde, (Morde Foods Pvt. Ltd.) and other marquee angels and founders also participated in this round.

Founded by serial entrepreneurs Vinamra Pandiya and Mayank Gupta along with Media & Entertainment veteran Joji George in March 2020, GoNuts aims to bridge the gap between celebrities and their millions of fans, and democratise talent to the Indian and expatriate Indian diaspora. Gonuts has a long term vision of creating India's largest celebrity experience e-commerce platform.

GoNuts has a portfolio of over 700 of the leading celebrities, most of them exclusive on Gonuts, across categories like films, television, sports and music, amongst others, available on its platform. This gives users a diverse range of celebrities to choose from, to convey personalized messages to their loved ones. The platform has leading celebrities exclusive on the platform which includes Shankar Mahadevan, Hans Raj Hans, Shaan, Kailash Kher, Sukhbir, Talat Aziz, Shibani Kashyap, Hariharan, Sivamani, Shivin Narang, Jonty Rhodes, Sumeet Verma, Ranveer Brar, Ashish Vidyarthi and Vicky Ratnani.

Vinamra Pandiya, Founder, Gonuts said that: "Our plan is to strengthen our market leadership and follow through on our vision to be Asia's largest and most influential celebrity commerce platform. We feel that investments in the right team, technology and other levers of growth is very important and will be our immediate priority. We aim to on-board 5000+ of the most influential and inspirational celebrities by the next financial year and be the unicorn out of India in this category for the rest of the world."

Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, MD & Co-founder – 9Unicorns, said, "Indians are quite passionate about the celebrities that they follow. And yet, the influence that they hold over the masses has largely been untapped by brands. The team at GoNuts is creating a disruption in this field by delivering curated celebrity experiences. We are confident in its potential to achieve rapid scale. As brands look to bounce back from the pandemic by using newer ways of engaging with their audiences, we are confident that GoNut's array of offerings will achieve greater traction in the market."

Sweta Rau, Angel and Venture Investor, White Ventures said that "Experiences are so much more valuable than anything else. Gonuts is creating category in by building marketplace that help create experiences of joy, excitement and fun. It is making it easy for fans and influencers/celebrities connect in a deeper way through personalised videos to begin with."

The uniqueness of the platform is its ability to connect the Indian and global Indian diaspora to talent across genres that are multi- lingual and also at multi segmented price points.

About 9Unicorns:


9Unicorns is India's First Accelerator VC. It provides acceleration support & seed funding to early-stage start-ups. 9Unicorns provides funding of up to $100K per start-up in the first round, and may invest further $500K-$2Mn in successive rounds with its co-investors. From idea stage to angel stage, it supports start-ups across various themes & sectors. 9Unicorns' strength & focus is to provide a hands-on support ecosystem for start-ups, beyond capital. 9Unicorns, besides investment, opens doors to the start-ups for access to a wide network of successful founders, category leaders, CXOs of large corporations, seasoned angel investors & partners of global VC funds. Every portfolio company receives acceleration support for 3 months & post-investment support of 18 months.

For more information, please reach out to info@9unicorns.in or find more information at www.9unicorns.in