Grapevine, a platform for anonymous social media, has raised its seed round, which was coordinated by Peak XV Partners (previously Sequoia India). This is the first round of funding for the Bengaluru-based startup.
A regulatory filing with the RoC reveals that the board of Grapevine has approved a special resolution to issue 33,333 series seed CCPS at an issue price of Rs 6408.46 each in order to raise Rs 21.36 crore or $2.6 million.
Peak XV Partners took the lead in this round with a contribution of Rs 20.53 crore, and Riverwalk Holdings contributed Rs 82.15 lakh. The Thakral Group serves as the fund’s main anchor, and Riverwalk Holdings fund focuses on industries like SaaS, fintech, and consumer.
Grapevine has been valued at approximately Rs 95.3 crore ($11.62 million) by startup data intelligence platform TheKredible (post allotment).
After the investment, Saumil Tripathi, Jainam Talsania, and Shreeyash Dharmadhikari collectively hold 65.17% of Grapevine, including ESOPs, while Peak XV has acquired 21.55% of the company.
Grapevine, which was established in early 2023, specializes in anonymous, unrestricted conversations about careers, finances, and personal and professional lives. It states that the platform has more than 30,000 members from startups and tech companies.
The business is in direct competition with Hood (previously Zorro), and to a lesser extent, FishBowl, Blind, and Reddit.
Hood was started by Jasveer Singh, Deepak Kumar, and Abhishek Asthana (better known as Gabbar on X), and in 2021 it received $3.2 million in funding from 3one4 Capital, Eximius Ventures, and Root Ventures. Over 15 unicorn founders supported the business, including Jayanti Kanani, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Ritesh Agarwal, Kunal Shah, Ankiti Bose, Ashneer Grover, and Lalit Keshre.
Recently, Virender Singh Kainth, a former executive at Khatabook, also introduced a platform like it called Together.
