ZeboLive signs ad-for-equity partnership with Hindustan Media Ventures

ZeboLive, a social live streaming platform, has secured $1 million from Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd, the investment arm of HT Media Ltd. The startup will look to accelerate its brand presence, speed up product development, strengthen the team, and onboard fresh creators across the country.

Launched by Dippaku Technologies Private Ltd, ZeboLive has already received $0.5 million in the first tranche. 

According to the company, the fund infusion will help create awareness about the platform to push creators onboarding in Tier II and Tier III cities with a vision to start video commerce by FY24. The company, which is also part of Pedalstart Startup Studio, is working to raise its pre-Series A round of funding in the next one-two months as it looks to further expand its creator base both in domestic and overseas markets.

Founded in 2019, ZeboLive is India's first live entertainment platform targeting fresh creators from Tier II/ III cities. It has more than 1,000 creators and 50,000+ users on the platform today. The live streaming platform utilizes a gifting method, where viewers can send gifts to streamers that can be redeemed by the creators later for money. ZeboLive helps fresh creators live-stream their talent on the platform and get monetized, with a retention rate as high as 85%.

"We are excited to announce the closing of this deal with Hindustan Media Ventures Limited, which will help us push the growth pedal," said Chirag Punjabi, CEO & co-founder, ZeboLive.

The platform has recently launched operations in Bangladesh. It features social live gaming as another entertainment option for users. The company has registered revenue of $0.3 million in FY22, helped by growth in the active user base over the last six months.

"We have been scaling from the date of launch and innovating at an exhilarating pace. We are also refining and expanding our operations outside India with our first tie-up with Bangladesh last month. Further, she reiterated that in the coming year, our focus is to capitalize on the scale and build a robust revenue model. We are committed to empowering every Indian by providing a platform to showcase their skills and talents to reach the world and to make their passion a means to livelihood," said Shobha Yadav, COO & co-founder, ZeboLive.

"India has an abundant talent spread across the country, and the biggest challenge is to showcase that talent to wider audiences. ZeboLive is empowering these creators to showcase their talent and monetize it. We believe our association with ZeboLive will enable it to not only onboard more creators that are talented but also help these creators in showcasing their skills to the entire country using HT platforms. We share the vision of Chirag and Shobha and look forward to the exciting journey ahead,” said Anirudh Singhal, strategic investment head, Hindustan Times. 

As per a Bain & Company report titled 'Online Videos in India—The Long and Short of It', India's online video user base has scaled to more than 350 million, growing 24% from 2018 to 2020, nearly twice as fast as markets such as China and Indonesia.