Hyperlocal Content Platform Knocksense Raises Bridge Round Worth $150k From We Founder Circle, Mumbai Angels, Appyhigh and Others

We founder circle, a founder backing founder based early-stage startup investor participated in the USD 150K bridge round raised by Knocksense, a Lucknow based local content production platform. The round also witnessed participation and an array of esteemed investors including Appyhigh (Lead Investor), Mumbai Angels Network and angel investors from LetsVenture.

The platform is founded by Vibhore Mayank, an alumnus of Whistling Woods, and Varul Mayank, an alumnus of Amity University. The company recently launched its flagship product KnockOFF, which helps to establish a connection between local brands/freelancers and consumers, thereby creating a content-driven community that enables transactions at the city level.

On the investment Mr Neeraj Tyagi, Co-founder & CEO, We Founder Circle said, “We are really happy to see the growth achieved by the Knocksense team. Hyperlocal content is rapidly gaining prominence, in addition to that a platform like KnockOFF, which enables value-creating and transactions has immense potential with social e-commerce. I am sure this fundraising is going to be a turning point in the growth of the company".

"With the launch of KnockOFF in August we have seen tremendous growth on all the grounds- the transactions via the platform, reach, GMV and subscriptions have grown by more than 100% MoM, this additional infusion from the existing investors will enable us to launch our full Product in new cities and expand at a fast pace," said Vibhore Mayank, Founder, Knocksense.

"Knocksense combines best of both worlds. On one hand - they've developed expertise in curating hyperlocal content across major cities. Hyperlocal content is rapidly gaining importance with audiences as people are interested in knowing what's happening in their own backyard. On the other hand, their flagship product KnockOFF leverages their hyperlocal expertise into online commerce, by connecting local brands and businesses with consumers through exciting deals. With subscriptions and GMV growing 100% MoM in the last few months, they're off to a strong start. This makes Knocksense a very unique ecosystem of hyperlocal engagement and commerce." Said Mr Venus Dhuria, Co-Founder, Appyhigh.

Knocksense strategizes to utilize funds in the tech development of the platform KnockOFF, and geographic expansion across the new cities targeted to be achieved within the fiscal. The company aims to produce captivating content including recommendations, videos, features, and more.

Including the current round, Knocksense has raised a total of USD 0.5 million since inception and currently has 20 million+ monthly impressions on the platform. It had raised the last angel round in January 2021.

About We Founder Circle

Established in 2020 in Mumbai, We Founder Circle is a global community of successful founders & strategic angels that have come together to push the startup industry and steer it towards aggressive growth. It invests USD 50K- USD 150 K amount in early-stage startups that are fueled with ambition, sustainability, and strategic approach. WFC provides seed funding, business development, and global networking opportunities to startups as it believes early-stage startups need a lot beyond just financial support to become scalable and stable.

About KnockSense

Knocksense is a hyperlocal content platform, which produces non-divisive content. Knocksense recently launched their flagship product KnockOFF which connects local brands/freelancers with consumers, thereby creating a content-driven community that enables transactions at the city level.

Lucknow-based Viral News Platform Knocksense Raises Seed Funding from Amitesh Pandey

Knocksense, a two-year-old Lucknow-based startup has raised seed funding from Amitesh Pandey (Founder of VBS Infravision Private Limited).

Knocksense is a fast growing lifestyle website currently operational in Lucknow, Goa & Delhi-NCR. Further, the startup plans to expand to Indore, Jaipur and other growing tier-II cities in India.

The startup also owns another vertical for mobile, tech and gadget news, Techsense, which was started in July 2018.

The local discovery and recommendation portal was founded in 2016 by Whistling Woods alumnus Vibhore Mayank and Amity University alumnus Varul Mayank. Unlike other websites, Knocksense was founded in Lucknow and was the first new-age Media company to be based out of Uttar Pradesh’s capital.

Commenting on the fundraise, Varul Mayank, co-founder of Knocksense, said, “Funding came at an important time for Knocksense. In the last two months, we were rapidly expanding to other regions and these funds will help us in improving our platform," he added.

Talking about the investment, Amitesh Pandey said, “Being from a media background, I was looking to invest in a media startup which was helping localities in finding the best things to do in a city. What attracted me the most to invest in Knocksense was its local presence in Lucknow. Being a regular Knocksense reader since 2017, I believed that their approach and content if replicated well in other smaller cities can definitely be a boon for localities and businesses alike.”

Knocksense plans to invest these funds in improving its IT infrastructure and start new cities. "Tier-II cities with an active millennial audience will be our next target. We are planning to launch new verticals next year which will further help the businesses in reaching out to local audience and vice-versa," Varul added.

We are also going to use Raghav Bahl backed-CMS, Quintype to power Knocksense’s IT infrastructure. Quintype’s functionality will further help us in reaching our target audience, he said.

LSR alumnus Neelansha Dwivedi initially invested in Knocksense in 2017. She has now joined Knocksense as the head of its editorial team.

Knocksense is a leisure reading portal, which aims to write on topics which are generally left uncovered by mainstream media. Knocksense covers various categories such as Tech, Food, Events, Culture, Travel, Startups and other Entertainment based stories.

Knocksense calls itself a ‘local discovery cum recommendation platform’, which informs people of the best places to hangout in their city. Knocksense was started in 2016 in Lucknow. Besides Lucknow, Knocksense is currently working in Indore, Goa & Delhi. Knocksense also has another vertical for mobile, tech and gadget news called Techsense, which was started in July 2018.

Lucknow Startup Ecosystem

About startup ecosystem in and around Lucknow, the state government of Uttar Pradesh had recently revealed its plan to develop the country’s largest startup in Lucknow. The state has identified about 40 acres of land near Lucknow Airport, which is on outskirts of the city, for the proposed startup incubation ecosystem comprising data centre, business processes outsourcing (BPO), development centre, training centres etc.

Very few startups from Luchnow or Uttar Pradesh have managed to raise funding and one of them was education startup EduGorilla, which had raised funding in July 2017.

In May 2016, an another Lucknow-based education startup EduAce Services raised USD 1 million (about Rs.6.6 crore) in seed funding from MoMagic.