VerSe Innovation Raises $100M+ from

 VerSe Innovation Raises $100M+ from AlphaWave, Google and Microsoft For Josh, India’s leading short video platform

Becomes India’s First Tech Unicorn For Local Languages

VerSe Innovation today announced it has completed a $100 million+ round of funding from global marquee investors AlphaWave (a unit of Falcon Edge Capital), Google and Microsoft. Existing investors Sofina Group and Lupa Systems also participated in this round. Other existing blue-chip investors of VerSe Innovation include the likes of Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India, Falcon Edge Capital, Goldman Sachs etc. With this new infusion of capital, the company is now valued at over $1 billion, making its debut as the first unicorn in tech for local languages.

The new funding comes at a time when VerSe Innovation is expanding its family of apps focused on Bharat, through its leading short video platform – Josh. Josh is made-in-Bharat-for-Bharat-by-Bharat-in 12-Bhartiya-languages-hosted-in-Bharat short video platform. Josh is the manifestation of VerSe Innovation’s commitment to Bharat across three big vectors. First, VerSe plans to play a leading role in the Digital Bharat and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives. Second, VerSe plans to empower the large and indigenous ecosystem of hundreds of millions of users and talented creators in every nook and corner of our country. Third, VerSe aims to underline and promote the rich heritage and culture of India, aggregating such content and delivering it to the masses.

VerSe plans to deploy its new capital steadily in the continued scaling up of Josh, the augmentation of local language content offerings, the development of content creator ecosystem, innovation in AI and ML and the growth of its truly made-in-Bharat-for-Bharat short-video platform.

Josh represents a confluence of India’s top 200+ best creators, the 10 biggest music labels, 15+ million UGC creators, best in class content creation tools, the hottest entertainment formats, and formidable user demographics. Josh has been consistently rated as the #1 Indian short-video app in India on the Play store. Currently, Josh is the fastest growing and most engaged short-video app in India with over 77 million MAUs (Monthly Active Users), 36 million DAUs (Daily Active Users) and 1.5+ billion video plays per day.

VerSe Innovation’s proprietary technology platform also powers various technology solutions including 300 million + users on Dailyhunt to consume content in their local language. Dailyhunt is India’s #1 vernacular content platform offering content artifacts every day in 14 languages. Content on Dailyhunt is sourced from a licensed creator ecosystem of over 100,000 content partners and individual content creators. This solid business foundation and capital infusion now sets the Company on a path of rapid growth, as it explores other international geographies to extend its broad based tech platforms in serving similar unmet content needs of local language audiences globally.

Dailyhunt gives fans a whistle-podu moment,

 Dailyhunt gives fans a whistle-podu moment,

brings exclusive content from Chennai Super Kings

~now win team merchandise in the CSK contest that launches on Josh, its leading short-video app~

 Dailyhunt, India’s #1 local language content discovery platform for Bharat, today announced CSK Originals – an exclusive and exciting content partnership with IPL favorites’ Chennai Super Kings. This partnership manifests as an exclusive hub on the Dailyhunt platform, giving users access to original CSK content packed with team photos, vignettes and videos. CSK Originals went live on Dailyhunt on 19^th September 2020 and will continue to entertain through a six-month duration until 30^th March 2021.

 Umang Bedi, Co-Founder, Dailyhunt said, “Sweet first victories deserve their attention and due. With spirits soaring high after their first game, we can’t think of a better way to salute Chennai Super Kings’ passion and never-say-die attitude – than bringing the best of cricket to the best in content.  This first-in-an-IPL opportunity is sure to be a fan favourite keeping users absolutely up to date and entertained.”

 Earlier this month, Dailyhunt also launched its made-in-India, short-video app ‘Josh’. Josh, a rich and diverse representation of India’s youth and the content that drives them, will allow short-video consumers and creators across Bharat to enjoy this collaboration too. The app (has) also launched a CSK contest on 28^th September 2020 to keep the user josh running high and wide. Winners of this contest stand the chance to win authentic CSK merchandise worth INR 1 lakh.

KS Viswanathan, CEO, CSK said, “This exciting partnership with Dailyhunt will enable exclusive CSK content reach far and wide. Being a franchise that values its fan base, we want our supporters to be up to date about the team.”

 

Dailyhunt launches ‘Josh’

Dailyhunt launches ‘Josh’ – Proudly Made in India: Bharat’s fastest growing &
most engaged

short-video app with 23+ million daily active users and 21-minutes of time
spent every day

~Presents over 200+ exclusive leading creators including Faisal Shaikh (Mr Faisu) and Sameeksha Sud~

~Welcomes the biggest music labels T-Series, Sony, Zee Music and Divo Music~

~Paves the way for Dailyhunt’s family of apps~

Dailyhunt, India’s #1 local language content discovery platform for Bharat, today announced the official launch of its made-in-India, short-video app ‘Josh’.  Gaining phenomenal traction through the beta phase, Josh is Dailyhunt’s tribute to Bharat, celebrating its creative beauty and diversity. In the last 45 days of its beta launch Josh numbers have exploded: 200+ A-rated exclusive creators, 4 mega music labels, 50+ million downloads, 1+ billion video plays per day, 23+ million daily active users (DAUs), 21+ minutes time spent per DAU and over 5 million User Generated Content (UGC) content creators.

The platform’s first challenge i.e. #JoshMeinAajaa is testament to its soaring popularity. In just 96 hours after its launch, 200 top creators across India descended upon the platform performing to the now viral “Josh Anthem” composed by Clinton Cerejo and written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The challenge clocked 953 million video views, earning 269.1 million hearts/likes and 307K UGC video uploads.

Umang Bedi, Co-Founder, Dailyhunt said, “Josh is a mahagathbandhan (mega confluence) of the country’s best creators, the biggest music labels, the hottest entertainment format, formidable user demographics and the largest local language platform! It is truly a made-in-Bharat.for-Bharat.by-Bharat.in-10-Bhartiya-languages.hosted-in-Bharat short video platform. We are humbled by the overwhelming endorsement it has received.”

Virendra Gupta, Founder, Dailyhunt reiterated, “Josh is the manifestation of our commitment to three big promises. First, to play our part in the Digital Bharat and AtmaNirbhar Bharat initiatives. Second, to empower the large and indigenous ecosystem of talented creators in every nook and corner of our country. Third, to promote the rich heritage and culture of India and make it really big. The success of platforms like Josh is the success of Bharat.”

Creator-first, consumer-focused and content-forward:

Visibly a fan favorite, Josh now hosts 200+ exclusive creators on its platform including some of India’s biggest like Faisal Shaikh (Mr. Faisu) and his Team 07 pals, Sameeksha Sud and her Teen Tigada counterparts, Bhavin Bhanushali and Vishal Pandey. True to its proposition, the list goes beyond to include incredibly talented artists who are a true and complete representation of Bharat.

Bringing the power of music to the madness of creativity, Josh also announced collaborations with India’s biggest music labels T-Series, Sony, Zee Music and Divo Music offering users one of the largest and widest music libraries across all Indian short-video platforms.

Bhushan Kumar, Managing Director, T-Series said at the launch, “Music has and always will be the string that binds communities. We at T-Series are very proud to associate with Josh. With music being an important part to content creation, we are glad to partner with brands who help shape a strong bond between music and creators.”

Neeraj Kalyan, President, T-Series added, “We welcome Josh to the world of legitimate music. We are thrilled to partner with Josh at its launch and play our part in letting creators all across the country express their creativity and talent on Josh.”

“We congratulate the team at Dailyhunt for the launch of Josh. We are excited to partner with the Josh team hoping to create a great content consuming experience. We are positive such collaborations will positively shape the collective future of the music industry and content consumption experience for consumers,” said Anurag Bedi, Business Head, Zee Music Company.

“We are glad to be associated with Josh as one of their partners. DiVo being one of the largest regional focussed content companies in India has already multiple engagements ongoing with Josh across music licensing, movie / studio partnerships, talent onboarding and more. We see a great potential in the app to generate user content and which in return can help in discovery of content,” added Shahir Muneer, Founder & Director, DiVo 

Users can now enjoy bite-sized videos up to 120 seconds across various categories namely viral, trending, glamour, dance, devotion, yoga and cooking among others as content takes on new avatars in this lockdown. With an enviable music library and an interactive tool suite, every Josh user can now unleash their hidden superstar.

“I’m really stoked that I had the opportunity to launch Josh’s first India challenge with Bhavin and Vishal. Josh works constantly on its game to give us a seamless, top-notch creator experience. Nothing says it like 2 million fans in 2 weeks. More than that, it’s allowed me to feel united with my creator community and inspires me to bring my best self to Josh every day,” shares creator Sameeksha Sud.

“I’ve been waiting to say #JoshMeinAaja to my many fans and well-wishers. Even while speculation was rife around my platform of choice, Josh was always the perfect fit for me. I am honored to share screen space, literally, with a most eclectic set of creators on a truly made-in-Bharat-for-Bharat app,” adds creator Mr Faisu.

Josh, currently on Android, will soon be available to iOS users as well. Since its inception, Dailyhunt’s singular focus has been to serve Bharat, giving users access to multi-lingual content that keeps them informed, entertained, and connected. Josh is the next big step in this continued effort that strategically aims to nurture a family of apps powered by social.