Inshorts raises $60 mn from Vy Capital, others

News content aggregator Inshorts on Thursday said it has raised $60 million in a funding round led by global technology investor Vy Capital.

With this, Inshorts Pte Ltd has raised $140 million over the past one year alone from Lee Fixel-backed Addition, Tiger Global Management, SIG and A91 Partners for its core news aggregator business (Inshorts) and location-based social network Public.

The latest round values the startup at a little more than $500 million, two persons aware of the matter said on condition of anonymity.

“The world is changing every minute, and each one of us has an inherent desire to remain updated about these changes. Both Inshorts app and Public app are aimed at helping some of these people in their quest of keeping themselves informed, and we are thrilled to have Vy Capital join us in our journey,” Azhar Iqubal, co-founder and chief executive officer, Inshorts and Public, said in a statement.

In March, Public had raised ₹300 crore (or roughly $40 million) from A91 Partners. Last year, the social media app had also bagged ₹260 crore (or roughly $35 million) led by Addition.

Inshorts, which was started eight years ago, provides 60-word news snippets to users and currently claims to have 10 million users, with a large part of its user base residing in tier-1 metros and cities.

“We are excited to partner with Azhar and team in their journey to build one of the largest content platforms out of India, running two market-leading properties with a rapidly growing user base. We look forward to working closely with the company and the team as it enters the next phase of scaling,” said Vamsi Duvvuri, partner, Vy Capital.

On the other hand, Public app is relatively new and was launched in April 2019 with a focus on tier-2, 3 and 4 geographies.

Public app provides updates and happenings around a user’s location, enabling local commerce, jobs and classifieds. The social network is available in more than 11 regional Indian languages and claims to have more than 50 million users across India.

“We believe that all of us want to remain connected to our locality as much as we want to remain connected to our friends and family. While many large platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat have been built for the latter, the problem of connecting to our locality remains unsolved and Public is our attempt for the same,” said founder Iqubal.

Several brands such as GSK, Amazon and HDFC Bank use Public as a medium to reach out to audiences in smaller towns and cities, the company had said earlier.

It also said earlier that more than 50,000 elected officials and government authorities are using Public to reach out to citizens on the ground.