Over-the-top (OTT) platform that focuses on regional languages in addition to the involvement of current investors, the stage is expected to raise $15 million, according to two people with knowledge of the specifics who spoke to the media.
“Goodwater Capital has offered a term sheet to spearhead the round while existing backers including Blume Venture are also joining in,” said one of the sources.
In a round headed by Blume Ventures, Stage raised Rs 40 crore ($4.8 million) in January 2023. A pre-Series A round in January 2022 raised $2.5 million for the platform, and in November 2020, Venture Catalysts contributed $1.5 million.
Additionally, Stage raised an undisclosed amount from Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra last year. Media claims that in its most recent funding round, the company was valued at Rs 290 crore, or about $35 million.
“Stage might be valued at approximately $80 million to $100 million (post-money). The deal is almost final and if nothing goes wrong at the last moment, the deal will be announced soon,” said another source.
Stage is a hyper-localized over-the-top (OTT) platform that was launched in November 2019 by Vinay Singhal, Shashank Vaishnav, and Parveen Singhal. It provides trending, entertaining, and educational content in a number of languages and dialects, including Rajasthani and Haryanvi.
According to the company, it has over 1.2 million paying customers in Haryana alone, and it adds 250,000 new customers every month.
Its rivals in the regional OTT market include OM TV, Planet Marathi, Chaupal, and Aha Video. The US-based private equity firm A & MA Capital spearheaded Planet Marathi’s $5 million fundraising campaign in July. According to reports, Chaupal and Aha Video are negotiating a new round.
