Top Indian CEOs Kickstart Passion Economy, Turn Angels To Pitch In $500K For CreatorOS

Influencer platform CreatorOS (formerly called Socionity) has bagged $500K in funding from angels Phanindra Sama, Gaurav Munjal, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Sujeet Kumar, Vidit Aatrey, Vivekananda Hallekere and Alvin Tse.  

CreatorOS provides an app-builder which allows creators to build their own apps to sell their content in it and build their own communities. 

Cofounder of the startup Madhavan Malolan told TechCrunch that the trust established entrepreneurs showed in CreatorOS convinced him that he did not need to engage with VC firms. He said the ban on TikTok created an immense opportunity for CreatorOS.

Currently, the platform claims to have around 1000 creators using its services and expects to have more than 5000 by the end of the year. These creators include short-film makers, teachers and consultants.

With the infusion, the startup aims to build a larger team that can help deal with the growing demands due to the pandemic. CreatorOS said in its blog, “We had been bootstrapped, with just three co-founders operating up until now. We were getting a lot of customers knocking at our doors. Things started escalating because of the Covid-19 situation when more and more teachers and artists started taking their offering online. We want to help people make this transition faster and seamlessly.”

Filling The Vacuum Created By Ban On Chinese Apps 

After the ban on Chinese apps, Indian and global alternatives are thriving. Sequoia-backed Trell reported more than 12 Mn downloads since the ban. While, its competitor Chingari crossed over 1 Cr downloads mark on the Play Store. Mitron now has a staggering 17 Mn monthly active users in under four months of launch, and Bolo Indya has seen similar rocket growth with 32.3 Lakh monthly users, 28.8 Lakh daily active users from around 10K monthly active users and around 500 daily active users in October 2019.  

It’s not just Indian apps that have boomed — a US-based Triller climbed up the rankings in India in the ‘Photo & Video’ segment on the iOS App Store and while Instagram marked its entry into the short video space with the launch of Reels in India, which is integrated in the main app. While the sudden growth in local apps user base was expected after the ban, the success of these alternatives will be decided on the basis of their retention numbers over the next few months.

Besides, Trell which raised $11.4 Mn in Series A funding round led by KTB Network, homegrown short video platform Chingari has raised INR 10 Cr (nearly $1 Mn) in seed funding from LogX Ventures, AngelList’s Utsav Somani, NowFloats’ Jasminder Singh Gulati, AL Trust (Vistra ITCL), Village Global. Mitron had raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding led by 3one4 Capital and a LetsVenture syndicate list led by Arun Tadanki, only two days after the Chinese app ban. The company is reportedly in talks to raise another $2 Mn from Nexus Venture Partners, former Commonfloor co-founder Sumit Jain, and PineLabs’ CEO Amrish Rau.

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