In an aim diversify its offering into more regional languages, An Uttar Pradesh based hyperlocal video platform, Awaaz has raised the undisclosed amount in series seed round funding from Matrix India.
Founded by Subodh Kolhe and Firasat Durrani, “Awaaz is a hyperlocal video platform which provides breaking video news and entertainment contents on their platform in 20 districts of U.P. and having 25,000-30,000 installation on Google Play Store.”
Talking about the recent round funding, Awaaz co-founder Subodh Kolhe said “It is not that local news that doesn’t get covered by news channels, but a lot of it gets missed because of the limited 24 hours of feed they have. Because it’s a digital platform, we don’t have a problem with real estate online, and that’s why we’re going after this.”
Commenting on the latest round funding, Matrix India, Vice President Sanjot Malhi said “Awaaz sits dead center of our next billion-user thesis, and at the confluence of several exciting trends in Indian internet. India is now the largest data consumer in the world at 9GB+/capita usage, with the bulk going to video consumption.”
“At the same time, 9 out of 10 users coming online don’t speak English, and almost half use their smartphones for their daily dose of news and other content, but the supply is limited,” he said.
Sanjot also added “Awaaz is trying to cater to this unique opportunity. We are excited by Subodh and Firasat’s vision, and are privileged to partner with them on this journey.”