Blog

Funding News:

Professional Social Media Platform ‘Medial’ Raises $120K in a pre-seed round

Medial App, a professional social media platform for startup ecosystem, raised $120K in a pre-seed funding round led by FirstCheque VC, with participation from angels from Bangalore, Mumbai, and the US, including Nayan Jadeja, Rohitashwa Choudhary, Ankit Aggarwal, and Radhakrishnan Ramachandran.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital for product development, user acquisition, and core app feature testing, with a focus on feature enhancement and product launch due to promising beta app metrics.

<figure class="image embed" contenteditable="false" data-id="535507" data-url="https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/6c7d986093a511ec98ee9fbd8fa414a8/L-R-NiketRajPrateekKaienAishwaryaRajHarshDwivedi1-1705471163673.jpg" data-alt="Medial" data-caption="

L-R- Niket Raj, Prateek Kaien, Aishwarya Raj, Harsh Dwivedi

” align=”center”>

Medial App, founded by Niket Raj Dwivedi, Aishwarya Raj Pandey, Prateek Kaien, and Harsh Dwivedi, is a professional social networking platform focusing on learning and growth in the startup ecosystem. The platform fosters a vibrant community across tech, product, and UI/UX domains, providing non-clickbaity news, industry updates, and advice. With a beta-stage user base of over 5,000, Medial App is set to launch by the end of January 2024, promoting transparent and inclusive workplace conversations.

Other News

Shiprocket and Truecaller collaborate to empower sellers 

Shiprocket, an ecommerce platform, has partnered with Truecaller to enhance mobile commerce. The partnership will enable three lakh Shiprocket merchants to streamline mobile onboarding and shopping journeys, ensuring a frictionless consumer experience and empowering independent eCommerce merchants across India.

Truecaller’s 1-Tap number-based OTP-less verification solution will expedite the onboarding process for new sellers on the Shiprocket platform, resulting in faster sign-ups and reduced friction. This solution will also help merchants deliver a secure online checkout experience, boosting sales conversion from 20% to 40%.

Shiprocket’s merchant ecosystem will leverage Truecaller’s Verified Business Caller ID solution, fostering seamless communication with customers, especially for delivery and support use cases.

The partnership aims to enhance trust, safety, and productivity in the merchant ecosystem, facilitating merchant growth and enhancing user experience for smoother business operations.

Ed-a-Mamma and Mothercare Announce a Strategic Alliance

Mothercare India has partnered with Ed-a-Mamma, a sustainable kids and maternity wear brand, to offer a maternity and nursing wear collection at select stores across India.

The strategic alliance will enable Ed-a-Mamma to expand its offline presence, PAN India, and provide customers with a more immersive in-store shopping experience, benefiting from the partnership.

Ed-a-Mamma, part of Reliance Brands Limited, is a clothing brand that offers a range of products, including maternity wear for moms-to-be, nursing wear for new moms, and infant wear for kids aged 0-3.

It offers 1700 options of high-quality natural fiber clothing, with plastic and nickel-free buttons and trims. They also repurpose leftover fabric scraps into trims and accessories. Their children’s clothing line includes tags for bookmarks and potlis filled with seed balls for outdoor activities. The brand believes everyone has one planet and is all children of mother earth.

Marut Drones enters into a partnership with SkyDrive

Marut Drones, a drone manufacturer, has signed a MoU with Japanese eVTOL aircraft manufacturer SkyDrive Inc.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) opens new opportunities in the emerging field of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, highlighting the partnership as a beacon of innovation in the aviation industry.

Marut Drones will be instrumental in establishing connections with SkyDrive’s potential customers and networks, involving governmental bodies, airfields, and infrastructure providers. They will also obtain exemptions and certifications for demonstration flights and commercial operations, laying the groundwork for a successful collaboration.

<figure class="image embed" contenteditable="false" data-id="535513" data-url="https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/6c7d986093a511ec98ee9fbd8fa414a8/Pic3-1705473189220.jpg" data-alt="Marut Drones enters into a partnership with SkyDrive" data-caption="

” align=”center”>

Key focus areas include obtaining necessary exemptions, securing government support, promoting localization through pilot and mechanic training, and identifying key partners. Additionally, Marut Drones will establish eVTOL operator functions and research the initial use case of short-distance flying in India.

About 78% in India prefer streaming on TV: Report

Nearly 78% of respondents prefer streaming online content on TVs via streaming sticks, smart TVs, and set-top-boxes over smartphones, tablets, and laptops, reveals a study by NielsenIQ and commissioned by Amazon.

It also highlighted that 66% of respondents streamed five hours of content daily over the weekend, compared to less than three hours during weekdays. While, 97% preferred streaming content around dinner time, and 74% watched with family. Comedy was the most popular genre, followed by sports, thriller, romantic, horror, international TV shows, and news.

Indian viewers prefer streaming on TV due to comfort and better viewing experience, as well as the convenience of accessing a variety of content from OTT providers and online sources, the report said.

The preference for smart home appliances is driven by ergonomic benefits, speed, lag-free streaming (39%), and a variety of OTT apps (24%). Other features include voice assistant for content searching and controlling smart home appliances, and streaming online content and live TV shows on a single screen.

Pocket FM elevates Lalit Gangwar to VP and Country Head – US

Pocket FM has appointed Lalit Gangwar as VP and Country Head – US, responsible for leading content operations and revenue growth in the US market.

Gangwar, an IIT-Madras alumni, has been a key partner in Pocket FM’s journey since its inception. 

Before joining Pocket FM, he worked with startups such as Healthkart, Zomato, and Dineout.

<figure class="image embed" contenteditable="false" data-id="535516" data-url="https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/6c7d986093a511ec98ee9fbd8fa414a8/LalitGangwarCountryHead-USPocketFM-1705474650474.jpg" data-alt="Lalit Gangwar" data-caption="

Lalit Gangwar, VP and Country Head – US

” align=”center”>

The company entered the US market with a $25 million annualized revenue run rate, in 2022, aiming to leverage its success to establish a global mainstream entertainment hub.

(The copy will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)