Vernacular Podcasting Platform Kuku FM Raises Funding from Shunwei Capital, others

Mumbai-based podcasting and audiobooks platform Kuku FM has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from China's Shunwei Capital and Indian venture capital firms India Quotient and 3One4 Capital, reported LiveMint.

Founded in 2018, by Lal Chand Bisu, Vinod Meena and Vikas Goyal, Kuku FM is a podcast platform that is re-inventing the traditional radio by allowing listeners to easily discover new, emerging and diverse audio content, and engage with their favorite creators.

Kuku FM gives a platform to some of the best content creators in India to launch and expand their very own podcasts.

Kuku FM provides production, distribution and marketing support for creators, and claims to have over a million listeners spending over 50 minutes a day on the platform. This includes famous feeds like Quora and Quorans from Quora, Dainik Bhaskar and dozens more.

Kuku FM has a library of 2 Lakh+ audios with most of them in Hindi language. The platform, with its app, also provide bestselling English books translated in Hindi as well as the famous Hindi books. The Audiobooks has range of categories like motivation audiobooks, self help audiobooks, spiritual audiobooks, business audiobooks along with a diverse library of fiction audiobooks from genres like Love, Crime, Horror, Comedy & Kids.

Kuku FM is aiming to be the biggest vernacular platform in that space, enabling the regional superstars to get their voices heard. We currently have content in Hindi and are actively onboarding creators from the 23 major languages of the country.

Social Commerce Platform Meesho Raises Fresh $50 Mn from Shunwei Capital, Others

Bangalore-based social commerce platform Meesho has raised $50 million in a Series C funding round from investors including Shunwei Capital, DST Partners and RPS Ventures. Meesho's existing investors Sequoia India, SAIF Partners, Venture Highway and Y Combinator also participated in this round.

The startup will utilize the latest funds for expanding into more categories and scaling domestic & international supply base. Prior to this round, Meesho had raised $11.5 million in a funding led by Sequoia India, in June this year.

So far, the startup has raised a total of about $65.5 million over six funding rounds and out of this $61.5 million have been raised in this year alone.

Founded in 2015 by IIT-Delhi graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Meesho is creating the next big e-commerce distribution channel via homepreneurs selling on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. It has network of 20,000+ homepreneurs strong across 150+ cities in India.

Speaking of the investment, Kabir Misra, founder & managing partner, RPS Ventures, said, " The company has great investors and a young entrepreneur at the helm. We are hoping to assist them with our accumulated experience in the sector to further grow their business in India and beyond."

The company claims to have more than 1 million re-sellers on its platform. For every transaction, a re-seller makes a 10-20% commission.

“We’ve witnessed 10x growth over the last six months. “With this new round of funding and the strong team we’ve built at Meesho, we will reach end consumers not served well by traditional e-commerce models," said Vidit Aatrey, co-founder, Meesho.

WhatsApp, which is estimated to have over 100+ million users in India, is recognized by Meesho as unparalleled as a distribution channel for selling online or retaining customers.

More than 30% of Meesho’s user-base is non-English and it plans to launch in new vernacular languages over time to go deeper into smaller towns and cities. Currently, it has over 1 million resellers on its platform. For every transaction, a reseller makes a 10-20% commission.

Meesho competes with other social commerce startups namely Shop101 and Glowroad, they however have not raised capital as much as Meesho had.

For China's Shunwei Capital, this is yet another India investment this year. Prior to this, Shunwei had invested in Vokal, a vernacular P2P knowledge-sharing platform founded by TaxiforSure co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna. This was followed by investment in Upwards Fintech Pvt. Ltd, a Mumbai-based micro-lending platform, in September this year.

Shunwei also led a $6.25 million (Rs 43 crore) funding round for Pune-based online lending startup LoanTap, and participated in a $30 million Series B round raised by Cheche365.com, an auto insurance search engine, in November last year. A month before that, Shunwei along with Xiaomi Technologies led an $8 million Series A round for Bangalore-based microlending platform KrazyBee.

China's ShunWei Leads $5 Mn Investment in Mumbai-based Upwards, A Micro-Lending Platform

In yet another Chinese investment in Indian startup, ShunWei Capital has led the $5 million series A financing round of Mumbai headquartered micro-lending platform Upwards Fintech Pvt. Ltd. Existing investors Mayfield and India Quotient also participated in this round.

The funding from Beijing-based Vc firm comes within few weeks after the Chinese Vc firm has led the $5 million funding of Vokal, a vernacular peer-to-peer (P2P) knowledge-sharing platform co-founded by TaxiforSure co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna.

Upwards will use the freshly raised funds to strengthen its technology and data science capabilities and expand to more cities. It is currently present in 30 cities in Tier-1 and Tier-2 towns including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai.

Founded in 2017 by IIT Delhi graduates Abhishek Soni and Nimesh Verma, Upwards Fintech provides formal financing to blue-collar and grey-collar employees with incomes in the range of Rs 10,000-Rs 25,000/month. Available in 30+ cities, Upwards loans offered are in the range of Rs 10,000-Rs 1,00,000 over a tenure of 3-24 months and interest rate of 2-4% per month. Mode of application, loan sanction and loan agreement signing is completely digital and done via mobile app.

“Our objective is to cherry-pick a few profiles and then build a virtuous loop around such a profile so that we are able to optimise our customer acquisition cost, underwrite our loans better, and build a resilient portfolio,” said co-founder Abhishek.

Madhukar Sinha, partner at India Quotient, said on investment in Upwards, "Having seen the micro-finance boom India first-hand, I am excited by the large market opportunity Upwards is targeting."

“The mobile disruption occurring in India today is very similar to what happened in China eight years back. While India’s fintech industry is still very young, Upwards has exhibited tremendous growth since its inception over a year back,” Tuck Lye Koh, CEO at Shunwei Capital said in a statement.

Beside Upwards, Shunwei Capital has invested in number of Indian startups including Clip App, a Bengaluru-based digital media video startup, and Truebil, a curated marketplace for pre-owned cars.

Shunwei also led a $6.25 million (Rs 43 crore) funding round for Pune-based online lending startup LoanTap, and participated in a $30 million Series B round raised by Cheche365.com, an auto insurance search engine, in November last year that was led by China Capital Group Ltd. A month before that, Shunwei along with Xiaomi Technologies led an $8 million Series A round for Bangalore-based microlending platform KrazyBee.

Shunwei Capital was founded in 2011 by Jun Lei and Tuck Lye KOH and manages over 2 billion in US dollars across five funds. Shunwei’s key focus is on mobile internet and IoT.

Via - LiveMint,

China's ShunWei Leads $5 Mn Investment in Mumbai-based Upwards, A Micro-Lending Platform

In yet another Chinese investment in Indian startup, ShunWei Capital has led the $5 million series A financing round of Mumbai headquartered micro-lending platform Upwards Fintech Pvt. Ltd. Existing investors Mayfield and India Quotient also participated in this round.

The funding from Beijing-based Vc firm comes within few weeks after the Chinese Vc firm has led the $5 million funding of Vokal, a vernacular peer-to-peer (P2P) knowledge-sharing platform co-founded by TaxiforSure co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna.

Upwards will use the freshly raised funds to strengthen its technology and data science capabilities and expand to more cities. It is currently present in 30 cities in Tier-1 and Tier-2 towns including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai.

Founded in 2017 by IIT Delhi graduates Abhishek Soni and Nimesh Verma, Upwards Fintech provides formal financing to blue-collar and grey-collar employees with incomes in the range of Rs 10,000-Rs 25,000/month. Available in 30+ cities, Upwards loans offered are in the range of Rs 10,000-Rs 1,00,000 over a tenure of 3-24 months and interest rate of 2-4% per month. Mode of application, loan sanction and loan agreement signing is completely digital and done via mobile app.

“Our objective is to cherry-pick a few profiles and then build a virtuous loop around such a profile so that we are able to optimise our customer acquisition cost, underwrite our loans better, and build a resilient portfolio,” said co-founder Abhishek.

Madhukar Sinha, partner at India Quotient, said on investment in Upwards, "Having seen the micro-finance boom India first-hand, I am excited by the large market opportunity Upwards is targeting."

“The mobile disruption occurring in India today is very similar to what happened in China eight years back. While India’s fintech industry is still very young, Upwards has exhibited tremendous growth since its inception over a year back,” Tuck Lye Koh, CEO at Shunwei Capital said in a statement.

Beside Upwards, Shunwei Capital has invested in number of Indian startups including Clip App, a Bengaluru-based digital media video startup, and Truebil, a curated marketplace for pre-owned cars.

Shunwei also led a $6.25 million (Rs 43 crore) funding round for Pune-based online lending startup LoanTap, and participated in a $30 million Series B round raised by Cheche365.com, an auto insurance search engine, in November last year that was led by China Capital Group Ltd. A month before that, Shunwei along with Xiaomi Technologies led an $8 million Series A round for Bangalore-based microlending platform KrazyBee.

Shunwei Capital was founded in 2011 by Jun Lei and Tuck Lye KOH and manages over 2 billion in US dollars across five funds. Shunwei’s key focus is on mobile internet and IoT.

Via - LiveMint,

TaxiForSure Co-founder’s Vernacular Platform Vokal Raises $5 Mn from China’s Shunwei Capital

Vokal, a peer-to-peer (P2P) knowledge-sharing platform in Indian Languages, has announced that it has raised $5 million in a Series A round of funding lead by China’s Shunwei Capital, and new investor 500 startups.

The financing round also saw participation from existing investors Accel India and Blume Ventures, it said in a statement.

Notably, Vokal was co-founded by Aprameya Radhakrishna, who is one of co-founders of cab hailing, TaxiForSure, which got acquired by its bigger rival Ola in 2015.

In the same year, Radhakrishnan co-founded Vokal along with Mayank Bidawatka. In Feb. 2016, the startup raised it first funding of $2 million from Blume Ventures and Accel, who had invested in TaxiForSure too.

Vokal was also one of the participants at Google India’s first mentorship and bootcamp program called - Solve For India - that the tech giant officially launched in this year only.

"Anyone who doesn’t know English in India has a huge problem of accessing relevant answers to their questions. Their Internet experience is poor with a dearth of meaningful content. We’re building a peer-to-peer content network that can cater to their information & knowledge needs," said Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder and CEO, Vokal.

On the talent front, Radhakrishna said, “We are 35 people and will keep it a tight team for the foreseeable future, not exceeding 50.”

“Language diversity is an Indian problem and Vokal is building India-specific solutions to cater to the information and knowledge needs for the non-English users. We are happy to support Vokal’s mission of creating a destination for the vernacular audience. The market is expected to balloon to 550+ million users over the next couple of years,” Anand Daniel, Partner, Accel Partners added.

Vokal is a few months old and already boasts of 200000+ questions with 1000s of questions pouring in everyday on varied topics. It also has a live video streaming feature where experts share their knowledge with users.

Vokal is currently available in Hindi and is launching in multiple languages in the next few months, the statement added.

In March, a report by IAMAI and Kantar IMRB said that 205 million new internet users would come online if content is available in Indian languages, which will be key motivation of using internet for people who are not using it, said

Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder, Vokal said, “India is one of the few countries with such a large language diversity. The Indian vernacular segment is poised to be almost twice the size of the United States. Their Internet experience is broken with basic translation widgets available as solutions for their information and knowledge needs. We are creating a product grounds-up that they can use everyday."

To recall, Vokal has recently acqui-hired StupidChat Technologies, a quizzing app startup, in an all-stock deal, in May this year.

Commenting on the Vokal deal, Tuck Lye Koh, Partner and CEO, Shunwei Capital said, “India is a large market and the language Internet users are underserved today. We are bullish on Vokal’s ability to create an information and knowledge platform to cater to this segment of users.”

Recent Investment in Vernacular Segment

Last year in May, Kalaari Capital owned seed program, Kstart Capital, had invested an undisclosed amount in Vernacular.ai, a broad-based engagement platform for a billion Indians using AI to address needs of people who can be reached only through vernacular languages.

Last August, Delhi-based B2C vernacular podcast aggregator platform Funcastic raised seed funding from a startup accelerator launched by HT Media Ltd and US-based investment firm North Base Media.

Shunwei Capital & Its India Investments

Founded in 2011 by Tuck Lye Koh and Lei Jun, Beijing-based Shunwei Capital is a venture capital fund focused primarily on early- to mid-stage investments in China’s internet industry and manages over 2 billion in US dollars across five funds. The VC firm seeks to invest in the technology, media, telecommunications, high technology, new media, games, internet finance, and rural area internet sectors.

Shunwei has increased its investment portfolio in India in the past few years. Last July, It led $1 million seed round of Clip App, a Bengaluru-based digital media video startup. Prior to this, it also invested $3M in Series A funding of Truebil, an India's only curated, authentic and verified marketplace for pre-owned cars.

It also led a $6.25 million (Rs 43 crore) funding round for Pune-based online lending startup LoanTap, and participated in a $30 million Series B round raised by Cheche365.com, an auto insurance search engine, in November last year that was led by China Capital Group Ltd. A month before that, Shunwei along with Xiaomi Technologies led an $8 million Series A round for Bangalore-based microlending platform KrazyBee.

TaxiForSure Co-founder’s Vernacular Platform Vokal Raises $5 Mn from China’s Shunwei Capital

Vokal, a peer-to-peer (P2P) knowledge-sharing platform in Indian Languages, has announced that it has raised $5 million in a Series A round of funding lead by China’s Shunwei Capital, and new investor 500 startups.

The financing round also saw participation from existing investors Accel India and Blume Ventures, it said in a statement.

Notably, Vokal was co-founded by Aprameya Radhakrishna, who is one of co-founders of cab hailing, TaxiForSure, which got acquired by its bigger rival Ola in 2015.

In the same year, Radhakrishnan co-founded Vokal along with Mayank Bidawatka. In Feb. 2016, the startup raised it first funding of $2 million from Blume Ventures and Accel, who had invested in TaxiForSure too.

Vokal was also one of the participants at Google India’s first mentorship and bootcamp program called - Solve For India - that the tech giant officially launched in this year only.

"Anyone who doesn’t know English in India has a huge problem of accessing relevant answers to their questions. Their Internet experience is poor with a dearth of meaningful content. We’re building a peer-to-peer content network that can cater to their information & knowledge needs," said Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder and CEO, Vokal.

On the talent front, Radhakrishna said, “We are 35 people and will keep it a tight team for the foreseeable future, not exceeding 50.”

“Language diversity is an Indian problem and Vokal is building India-specific solutions to cater to the information and knowledge needs for the non-English users. We are happy to support Vokal’s mission of creating a destination for the vernacular audience. The market is expected to balloon to 550+ million users over the next couple of years,” Anand Daniel, Partner, Accel Partners added.

Vokal is a few months old and already boasts of 200000+ questions with 1000s of questions pouring in everyday on varied topics. It also has a live video streaming feature where experts share their knowledge with users.

Vokal is currently available in Hindi and is launching in multiple languages in the next few months, the statement added.

In March, a report by IAMAI and Kantar IMRB said that 205 million new internet users would come online if content is available in Indian languages, which will be key motivation of using internet for people who are not using it, said

Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder, Vokal said, “India is one of the few countries with such a large language diversity. The Indian vernacular segment is poised to be almost twice the size of the United States. Their Internet experience is broken with basic translation widgets available as solutions for their information and knowledge needs. We are creating a product grounds-up that they can use everyday."

To recall, Vokal has recently acqui-hired StupidChat Technologies, a quizzing app startup, in an all-stock deal, in May this year.

Commenting on the Vokal deal, Tuck Lye Koh, Partner and CEO, Shunwei Capital said, “India is a large market and the language Internet users are underserved today. We are bullish on Vokal’s ability to create an information and knowledge platform to cater to this segment of users.”

Recent Investment in Vernacular Segment

Last year in May, Kalaari Capital owned seed program, Kstart Capital, had invested an undisclosed amount in Vernacular.ai, a broad-based engagement platform for a billion Indians using AI to address needs of people who can be reached only through vernacular languages.

Last August, Delhi-based B2C vernacular podcast aggregator platform Funcastic raised seed funding from a startup accelerator launched by HT Media Ltd and US-based investment firm North Base Media.

Shunwei Capital & Its India Investments

Founded in 2011 by Tuck Lye Koh and Lei Jun, Beijing-based Shunwei Capital is a venture capital fund focused primarily on early- to mid-stage investments in China’s internet industry and manages over 2 billion in US dollars across five funds. The VC firm seeks to invest in the technology, media, telecommunications, high technology, new media, games, internet finance, and rural area internet sectors.

Shunwei has increased its investment portfolio in India in the past few years. Last July, It led $1 million seed round of Clip App, a Bengaluru-based digital media video startup. Prior to this, it also invested $3M in Series A funding of Truebil, an India's only curated, authentic and verified marketplace for pre-owned cars.

It also led a $6.25 million (Rs 43 crore) funding round for Pune-based online lending startup LoanTap, and participated in a $30 million Series B round raised by Cheche365.com, an auto insurance search engine, in November last year that was led by China Capital Group Ltd. A month before that, Shunwei along with Xiaomi Technologies led an $8 million Series A round for Bangalore-based microlending platform KrazyBee.