Content aggregator app Dailyhunt’s parent business VerSe Innovation has secured more than $one hundred million for its quick video app Josh much less than two months right after it raised more than $one hundred million from Google, Microsoft, and AlphaWave. The most recent Series H round was led by worldwide investors such as Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, which had earlier backed Flipkart and Byju’s, and Glade Brook Capital Partners. Canaan Valley Capital and current investor Sofina Group also contributed to the round. The most recent valuation of the business couldn’t be ascertained, nevertheless, the December round had valued Verse Innovations at more than $1 billion. The business had launched Josh in September final year even as a clutch of other related apps such as MX TakaTak, Moj, Mitron, Trell, and Chingari had sprouted post TikTok ban to plug the marketplace gap. As of February 9, 2021, Josh was ranked ninth amongst the leading totally free social apps on Android in India, according to the information from SensorTower, when MX TakaTak and Moj have been the leading two apps.
VerSe will deploy the capital for steadily increasing the Josh app that is at present accessible in 12 Indian languages, the business mentioned in a statement. This will consist of “the augmentation of local language content offerings, the development of its content creator ecosystem, innovation in AI and ML and more importantly, creation of opportunity for India’s vast talent pool.” The business claimed more than 200 content creators, 10 music labels, more than 15 million user-generated-content creators on the app. Josh has “over 85 million monthly active users, 40 million daily active users, and 1.5+ billion video plays per day,” the business added.
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The quick-type video apps had witnessed a decline in month-to-month time spent by customers to just 37 billion minutes in July 2020. However, it bottomed out and scaled back to 95 billion minutes till early December, according to a current RedSeer report. TikTok, which had a share of 85-90 per cent of total month-to-month time spent by Indians on quick-type apps in June 2020 had lost about 40 per cent share to Indian apps in October 2020. Consequently, 4-6 per cent share of about 165 billion minutes (275 hours) spent by viewers on Indian quick-type apps in June 2020 had elevated to about 67 per cent – roughly 55 billion minutes (91 hours) in October.