Women Centric Fashion & Lifestyle Content Startup POPxo Grabs $2 Mn From IDG, Kalaari & 500 Startups

Delhi-based POPxo, a woman centric lifestyle and fashion content portal, has raised $2 Mn in its Series A funding round led by IDG Ventures, Kalaari Capital along with participation from 500 Startups.

The raised funds will enable POPxo to broaden its editorial operations in English and Hindi language. The startup plans to scale up video production and new features for its recently-released iOS and Android apps.

Namrata Bostrom, co-founder of POPxo said, “As well as investing in new, engaging content formats, over the next two years we will develop technology that will create an even-stronger sense of community within our growing reader base.”

Founded in May 2014 by Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom, POPxo is a digital platform for women providing content around fashion, beauty and lifestyle. It targets women between the age of 18 and 34. Last year in November, POPxo had secured $500K from a group of investors including Google India Chief Rajan Anandan and CaratLane.com’s Mithun Sancheti.

The company claims to have a readership base of about 3 Mn on a monthly basis and has a team of 25.

POPxo has partnered with brands like Nike, Whisper, Tanishq, Motorola, TrulyMadly, Lakmé, Chumbak, TIGI BedHead, Wills Lifestyle, Caratlane, Westside, Vero Moda and Van Heusen, covering native advertising. Blogger activations have also generated high levels of engagement, customer acquisition and social media buzz for the website.

The digital content space is growing at a rapid pace. According to Gill, around 60 Mn Indian women have an online presence and this number is expected to reach around 300 Mn by 2020. POPxo wants to take hold this opportunity while digital media is at the cusp of a big shift.

Investors have become interested in the content space now more than ever and their recent investments can be considered as a proof of it. In September this year, Quintype Inc., a data driven content publishing platform raised $3.25 Mn from Ragav Bahl. In February 2015, news reading app Newshunt, later rebranded as Dailyhunt, raised $40.5 Mn in its Series C funding. Online city and lifestyle portal, Little Black Book Delhi (LBBD) had raised a seed investment of $150K from a group of angel investors. The Better India, a Bangalore-based news website also raised $150K in March, 2015.

Last year, Scoopwhoop, an online content driven website, had raised $1.6 Mn from Bharti Softbank. MissMalini, a Bollywood lifestyle publishing website, had also raised an undisclosed amount from a group of angel investors. Men’s grooming and lifestyle advisory website, MensXP, was acquired by Times Internet. Except for Quintype, all these are content driven websites and follows the same content model as Buzzfeed’s, an US-based media platform.

The content consumption pattern of consumers is changing fast with the increasing penetration of smartphones. Content driven platforms are now gearing up for the new challenges that come with this shift. It is now a game of wait and watch’ as they engage their customers with the aid of high quality content and technology.

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