SUMMARY
The Fresh Funds Will Be Used To Drive Growth And Scale The Startup’s Offline Community
Delhi-based content and digital community platform YourQuote, has secured $1 Mn (INR 6.9 Cr) in Seed funding. The funding round was led by IDG Ventures India, and also saw the participation of Atul Goel of the Essel City Group and Axilor.
YourQuote was part of the Summer ‘17 batch of Axilor’s 100-day accelerator programme.
With the newly raised capital, the startup will work on increasing the range of content available on its platform by expanding its footprint across the country. The ultimate aim is to increase contributors and readers on the platform.
Commenting on the development, Harsh Snehanshu, Co-founder & CEO, YourQuote, said, “There is a very apparent dearth of expression-oriented original content platforms in India. YourQuote was started off to plug that gap by giving Indians a stage for self-expression, a platform which allows them to share what they feel, what they experience, in their own words, in a language that they are most comfortable with.”
The recently-concluded funding round will be further used to expand into user-generated video content and scaling up offline networking initiatives.
Karan Mohla, Partner and Executive Director IDG Ventures India Advisors, said, “At the core of it is a team of highly-talented founders who value original content and via their mobile platform are tapping into the lucrative opportunity that the country’s massive vernacular market has opened up. Vernacular users have very few media and content platforms geared towards creating relevant and engaged communities and we strongly believe original content caters to that basic need in an innovative manner. We fully back the team’s vision and mission, and are confident that they will be able to take YourQuote to the next level of growth and establish it as the definitive mobile-first platform for original content in India, both short-form and video.”
A Look At YourQuote And Its Competitors
Started by IIT-Delhi alumni Harsh Snehanshu and Ashish Singh in early 2017, YourQuote is a platform which enables users to share their experiences and stories across its mobile app that is available on Android as well as iOS.
The startup claims to have 500K users and currently has 4.5 Mn+ posts (original video and written content) in more than 15 languages. As claimed, YourQuote has an active user base comprising of young users who use the app for over 16 minutes of engagement per day across 4-5 sessions.
Via its offline community, YourQuote has so far organised more than 300 offline open mic events across the country in more than 35 cities and colleges to expand its geographical footprint.
In addition to English, the platform also offers users a chance to share their experiences and stories in Hindi and other vernacular languages such as Tamil, Bangla, Kannada, and Punjabi, which has helped it to cater to the suburban and rural segments in the country.
Wittyfeed, one of the bigger players in the digital media space in India, also raised Pre Series A funding in September this year. It currently boasts a valuation of over $45 Mn. Other players like FilterCopy, Little Black Book and POPxo also operate along the same lines. With YourQuote raising fresh funds for further expansion, it will be interesting to see how the competition in the digital content space heats up.
