Josh, Dailyhunt parent VerSe raises $805 mn, at $5 billion valuation

BENGALURU: VerSe Innovation, that owns popular short-video platform Josh and local language content platform Dailyhunt, has raised $1.5 billion in the past year.

The investment, said the company, will be focused on strengthening its leadership position as the largest, fastest growing local language AI driven content platform in the country.

“We have raised this significant funding at a time when both private and public markets are facing a slowdown and founders are finding it difficult to raise capital. It is a single-largest investment in any of the startups in India, further validating our work to date and the robust business model,” Umang Bedi, Co-founder, VerSe Innovation, said. It has proved its worth across key metrics like user growth, engagement, monetisation, and “we are helping millions of creators monetise content in vernacular languages”, he added. The funding round was led by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, along with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Luxor Capital, Sumeru Ventures and others.