Google invests in two Indian startups
While Google did not disclose details of its latest investments, separate announcements by investee companies stated that Google has participated in Glance s USD 145 million (about Rs 1,071.5 crore) and VerSe Innovation s USD 100 million (about Rs 739 crore) funding rounds.
Google India FY20 revenue rises 35% to Rs 5,593.8 crore, profit up 24%
(Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)
Google on Tuesday said it has invested in two Indian startups - Glance and VerSe Innovation - as part of its USD 10 billion Google for India Digitisation Fund to enable them to further scale up availability of content in different formats across various Indic languages.
Glance raises $145 million from Google, Mithril Capital
In September last year, Glance had raised USD 45 million (over Rs 323 crore) in funding from Austin-based Mithril Capital, and the latest round takes the total fund raising by Glance to USD 190 million. PTI December 22, 2020 / 12:40 PM IST
Glance, a part of SoftBank-backed InMobi Group, on Tuesday said it has closed a USD 145 million (around Rs 1,071.6 crore) investment round from Google and existing investor, Mithril Capital.
In September last year, Glance had raised USD 45 million (over Rs 323 crore) in funding from Austin-based Mithril Capital, and the latest round takes the total fund raising by Glance to USD 190 million.
Glance, the world’s leading lock-screen platform owned by Bengaluru-based mobile ad network InMobi Group, has raised $145 million from technology (tech) giant Google and Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital, an existing investor in the company. A co-founder of PayPal and Big Data firm Palantir Technologies, Thiel is known to have invested in Facebook, Airbnb, and SpaceX. The new financing round has helped the 18-month-old Glance to become the fastest company to reach unicorn status or a start-up valued at more than $1 billion, revealed industry sources.
InMobi itself became India’s first unicorn when it received an investment of $200 million from SoftBank in 2011.
Google invests in Indian startups Glance and DailyHunt
Google said on Tuesday it is investing in two Indian startups, Glance and DailyHunt, as the Android-maker makes a further push into the world’s second-largest internet market.
Glance, which is part of advertising giant InMobi Group, uses AI to offer personalized experience to its users. The service replaces the otherwise empty lock screen with locally relevant news, stories and casual games. Late last year, InMobi acquired Roposo, a Gurgaon-headquartered startup, that has enabled it to introduce short-form videos on the platform. Google is also investing in Roposo.
Roposo is a short-video platform with more than 33 million monthly active users. These users spend about 20 minutes consuming content across multiple genres in more than 10 languages on the app everyday.