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Bangalore-based tech startup Sensara has raised seed funding of about $750K (INR 5 Cr) from former Google India head Lalitesh Katragadda and Ganayantrika Systems.
With this, Lalitesh Katragadda and Anant Pandit – director of Gana Yantrika will join the board.
The startup will use the raised funds to grow the company and add more products to its portfolio.
Incepted in 2014 by ex-Google employee Bharath Kumar Mohan, Sensara has developed a technology that converts a smartphone into television remote. Bharath started the company with a vision to provide a solution to the problem of flipping channels during ad breaks.
Besides, Sensara’s technology adds a layer of abstraction that allows TV viewers to directly key in terms such as “English action movie” instead of remembering and keying in the channel number. The company maintains a real-time database that maps channels to the different numbers that set top boxes have assigned it to.
How Does This Work?
While watching TV one has to open company’s app or website. This is how Sensara’s technology will be able to foretell which channels are on an ad break and the time duration since the last ad, in real time. The site also lists the total number of channels that are on breaks for that moment.
The android app has more interesting features, such as listing the shows currently on TV, and also what other users are watching. It supports all cable operators. AdBreaks currently works over 50 different channels including HBO, Star Movies and Sony Pix, among others.
Bharat Kumar Mohan, founder and CEO at Sensara said,
Only a few investors in India can understand the kind of breakthroughs we’ve achieved at Sensara. We’ve started aggregating them. India has 150 million set-top boxes and 150 million smartphones, but the two do not acknowledge each other. We’ve declared war on that old remote in your living room.
The company presently has a 16-member team and has recorded 80,000 app downloads. It also plans to introduce a few hardware devices to accompany the app.
Anant Pandit, director of Gana Yantrika, said that when IP TV comes, the company will already be ready for it.
The company has also built Sensy, a unique TV search and remote Android app.
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