VerSe Innovation, India’s largest local language technology platform, stated that it has secured $805 million in recent fundraising rounds from prestigious international investors. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Luxor Capital, Sumeru Ventures, and others are among the investors.
Existing investors Sofina Group, Baillie Gifford, and others will contribute more than their pro-rata in this round, bringing VerSe Innovation’s valuation to $5 billion, according to Virendra Gupta and Umang Bedi of VerSe Innovation. The current investment comes on the heels of a $1.5 billion fund raised in the previous year from Siguler Guff, Carlyle Group, Baillie Gifford, Falcon Edge Capital via Alpha Wave Ventures, Glade Brook Capital, Google, Microsoft, and Qatar Investment Authority, according to Gupta.
The money will go toward solidifying the company’s position as the country’s largest and fastest-growing AI-driven content platform for local languages. he stated VerSe intends to expand and strengthen its AI/ML and data science skills in order to solidify its top position across all user, engagement, and retention KPIs, according to Gupta. It also aims to drive deeper monetization, such as influencers, e-commerce, and live streaming, as well as forays into Web 3.0 experiences, across its local language creator base of over 50 million creators and its local language content ecosystem, which sees over 80 billion video views per month, according to Bedi.
VerSe Innovation’s proprietary technology platform, which includes Josh, India’s largest short video platform, Dailyhunt, India’s largest local language content platform, as well as PublicVibe, India’s fastest growing hyper local video platform, serves one out of every two internet users in the country. VerSe Innovation became the first unicorn in tech for local languages with its family of apps focused on Bharat, and its investors include Goldman Sachs, Falcon Edge Capital, Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India, Lupa Systems, B Capital Group, IIFL, Kotak, Catamaran, Bay Capital, Edelweiss, and Omidyar Network, among others.
