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Tag: Jitin Bhatia

  • Explurger goes global: India’s travel social app wins praise from Sonu Sood

    Explurger goes global: India’s travel social app wins praise from Sonu Sood

    MUMBAI: Bollywood actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood has put the spotlight on Explurger, a homegrown social media platform for travellers, echoing prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for Indian innovation to go global.

     

     

    Launched three years ago by Jitin Bhatia and Sonu Sood, Explurger has rapidly grown to over 17 million users worldwide. The travel-focused app combines AI-powered travelogues, real-time journey tracking, and community sharing, all under the mantra ‘Get Out – Get Social.’ Rather than endless scrolling, the platform encourages users to explore new destinations, check in with Explurge-ins, complete bucket lists, and earn gamified rewards.

    “The Prime Minister’s call for innovation within India’s digital ecosystem highlights the country’s confidence in building its own technology frameworks,” said founder and CEO Jitin Bhatia. “Explurger embodies that mindset entirely developed in India, powered by Indian talent, and designed to resonate globally. We want to show that Indian tech can innovate and inspire on the world stage.”

    PM Modi has repeatedly emphasised the importance of homegrown solutions. In a recent speech, he urged Indians to buy and sell Swadeshi goods and nurture platforms that meet domestic needs while competing internationally.

    With its unique blend of real-world adventure and social connectivity, Explurger has become a shining example of Make-in-India ingenuity in the social media space. As the platform continues its global push, it demonstrates that India isn’t just building apps, it’s building experiences that travel the world.

     

  • Explurger steps up to PM Modi’s call for homegrown tech

    Explurger steps up to PM Modi’s call for homegrown tech

    MUMBAI: Time to log off and step out! Responding to prime minister Narendra Modi’s call for indigenous innovation, Explurger, a proudly made-in-India social media app, is reimagining how we connect online, and offline.

    Launched with the mantra “Get out – get social,” Explurger encourages users to explore the world, meet people in real life, and share authentic travel and lifestyle experiences. Every journey, check-in, or post automatically creates a digital travelogue, making social media as much about living life as sharing it.

    “The prime minister’s call underscores India’s growing confidence in building its own tech frameworks,” said Explurger founder and CEO Jitin Bhatia. “Our app is entirely developed in India, powered by Indian talent, and designed to resonate globally. Explurger shows that Indian technology can inspire, innovate, and compete on the world stage.”

    Rooted in the Make in India and Digital India missions, Explurger reflects the spirit of self-reliance. With over 17 million users, it signals a new era of homegrown digital innovation, one where technology doesn’t just connect, it empowers and enriches real-world experiences.
     

  • Explurger Indian social media platform takes centre stage at MahaKumbh 2025

    Explurger Indian social media platform takes centre stage at MahaKumbh 2025

    MUMBAI:  Homegrown social media platform Explurger has emerged as the digital frontrunner at Digital MahaKumbh 2025, establishing itself as the sole social network with a significant physical presence at the world’s largest religious gathering.

    The platform, co-founded by Bollywood actor Sonu Sood in 2022, has set up a 2,000-square-foot creators’ lounge in partnership with AajTak, featuring podcast studios, an interactive stage, and a Formula One simulation zone sponsored by Red Bull. Notable performers including singers Shaan and Hariharan, alongside filmmaker Kabir Khan, have made appearances at the venue.

    Beyond its digital offerings, Explurger’s on-ground team has proved instrumental during emergencies, helping coordinate safety measures during stampedes and fires whilst amplifying urgent alerts across its network.
    Said  founder & CEO Jitin Bhatia:  “As a made-in-India app built for travellers and explorers, we’re reshaping how the world connects through culture and meaningful content.”

    The MahaKumbh festival has drawn an estimated 450 million visitors, including 30 million international tourists. While global social media platforms have maintained distance from the event, viewing it primarily through a religious lens, Explurger has embraced it as a cultural phenomenon.

    The platform, which boasts 12 million users worldwide, offers unique features including an automatic travelogue and personalised bucket lists. 

    Its presence at MahaKumbh 2025 forms part of its  campaign “One Event. One Billion Stories. One Lounge.”

  • New Mangalore Port Authority will be title sponsors of fifth Indian Open of Surfing

    New Mangalore Port Authority will be title sponsors of fifth Indian Open of Surfing

    Mumbai: The fifth Indian Open of Surfing (IOS), a premier national surfing competition sanctioned by the sport’s governing body in the country, the Surfing Federation of India (SFI) – have announced the New Mangalore Port Authority as their new title sponsors for the 2024 edition, scheduled between 3q May to 2 June at the pristine Sasihithlu Beach in Mangalore. The event will be organised by the Surfing Swami Foundation and hosted by the local Mantra Surf Club under the aegis of SFI. Continuing with its record of attracting top corporate sponsorship for the Indian Open of Surfing, the organizers also announced Karnataka Tourism as event partners for the fifth consecutive year. The famous Cycle Pure Agarbatti have also been roped in as the ‘powered by’ sponsors while Explurger has come onboard as a social media app partner exclusively for the very first time to empower the event.

    The fifth Indian Open of Surfing is all set to showcase the talent and skills of top Indian surfers which include the likes of Ramesh Budihal, Kishore Kumar, Harish M, Srikanth D, and Manikandan D, Kamali Moorthy, Srishthi Selvam, and Sandhya Arun, as they compete for top honors in four different categories (Men & Women’s Open and Groms U-16 Boys & Girls) in the three-day surfing extravaganza.

    “We have eagerly awaited the moment to announce our partnership with the 5th Indian Open of Surfing. The opportunity to support surfing, one of the fastest-growing water sports both nationally and globally, is something we could not pass up. Surfing holds transformative potential for the region, positioning Mangalore as a premier destination for adventure enthusiasts. This, in turn, significantly boosts the local economy and empowers the local communities. We are proud to be part of an initiative that brings such multifaceted benefits to the region,” said, New Mangalore Port Authority chairman Dr Venkata Ramana Akkaraju.

    “The Karnataka Government and Karnataka Tourism have been supporting surfing for a long time. This support encourages more people to visit beautiful places like Sasihithlu and explore what the state has to offer in terms of tourism development. I extend my best wishes to everyone involved in this year’s IOS for a fun and successful event”, said Dakshin Kannada M P, IAS, deputy commissioner Mullai Muhilan.

    “We have been truly impressed by the surging popularity of surfing in India. We are committed to supporting initiatives that align with our values of preserving the ecological surroundings and foster community development. I extend my best wishes to all the athletes and organizers for a successful tournament. Let’s hope to see India rise in this exhilarating sport,” said NR Group managing partner & Cycle Pure Agarbatti MD Arjun Ranga.

    “The Indian Open of Surfing embodies the adventurous spirit we cherish at Explurger. Partnering with the Surfing Federation of India underscores our dedication to celebrating the excitement of exploration. We extend our heartfelt wishes to all participants and look forward to many more collaborations,” said, Explurger founder & CEO Jitin Bhatia.

    Indian Open of Surfing will be the second stop of the National Championship series of the 2024 calendar year, following the International Surfing Festival Kerala 2024, held in March at the beautiful cliff beach of Varkala. The IOS will feature intense rivalry between surfers from the east and west coasts, as these championships carry important ranking points that will determine the surfers’ standings at the end of the season.

  • Explurger secures $ 4.5 million in series-A funding led by Affle

    Explurger secures $ 4.5 million in series-A funding led by Affle

    Mumbai: Social media platform Explurger has announced that it has raised an investment of  $ 4.5 million (Rs 37.3 Cr) in a series-A funding led by Affle (India) Limited (“Affle”) at a pre-money  valuation of about $ 40 million (Rs 338 Cr). With this investment, Affle (India) Limited will hold a 9.03 per cent  stake (on a fully diluted basis) of Explurger, which has already shown a robust potential and interest from  global investors.

    Launched in 2021 in India, Explurger has already garnered more than 8.5 million users across 75+  countries. Pioneering the field as the only “Gamified” AI-powered vertical consumer-tech social media  platform for travelers, Explurger is listed by Google as one of ‘10 Most Innovative Apps Making Mark in  India and Beyond’. With an AI-centered social media format, the app differentiates itself with features such  as Automatic Travelogue, Rewards and Bucket List to cater to the distinctive needs of travelers and  explorers. The company expects to target the growing social media users in India and the world, amidst a  renewed interest in the travel segment in the post-pandemic world.  

    The travel and tourism industry continues to be on the rise, with a projected contribution of about 8.4% to  the Global GDP in 2023 (WTTC) and projected contribution of about 5.4% to India’s GDP in 2023 (WTTC)  with an estimated 124% increase for the following decade, it is clear that the niche premise of the app  signals brighter horizons.  

    Speaking about the investment, Explurger founder & CEO Jitin Bhatia, said, “We’re thrilled to  welcome Affle on our cap table as part of Series-A funding round. Affle is already a leading name known  for their tech innovations and R&D, and with them as an investor, it validates our vision to build a social  media platform of the future that goes beyond likes and shares, and truly builds a global connected  community using the advancements of AI. We look forward to the next phase of our growth story and are  grateful for the confidence shown in us by the team at Affle.” 

  • Explurger App downloaded by 1.3 mn users; expands footprint to 50+ countries

    Explurger App downloaded by 1.3 mn users; expands footprint to 50+ countries

    MUMBAI: Explurger, an AI-powered intuitive social media app that lets users connect and share their moments with friends and family online said that it has crossed several milestones in a short span of time. The gamified social media app has expanded its footprint to over 50 countries, been downloaded by 1.3 million users, and seen a three-fold increase with over 900,000 new members being added in just three months itself.

    Explurger App highlights:
    • Downloaded over a million times from the App Store and Play Store
    • Gained over 900,000 new users in three months
    • Over 226 million people have been invited by registered users
    • Users are on average spending 15-minutes on the app, which is at par with other popular social media apps
    • Over 612,897 ‘Explurger-ins’ (location check-ins) have been posted by users so far via the app
    • Users have cumulatively covered 63,179,971 miles, which is equivalent to circumnavigating the globe more than 2,537 times
    • A total of 190,794 rewards have been accessed through the app

    Till date, over 75 per cent of users who installed Explurger have synced their contacts with it, showing that they trust and enjoy this social media app and want their friends to join them as well. This has resulted in over 226 million invites being sent out by registered Explurger users to those who are not yet on this platform.

    Explurger founder & CEO Jitin Bhatia said, “Our sign-up rate increased substantially post-launch in June. We are seeing higher traction in engagement, with an increased number of posts per day. We appreciate the enthusiasm of our user community, which has steadily risen and has crossed the one million download mark in less than three months. There is no doubt the numbers will grow exponentially as our users continue inviting more people to come and create thriving travel communities on our platform.”

    Explurger also has an 80 per cent sign-up rate with an average engagement time of over 15 minutes, which is at par with other global social media apps. The app also claims to have a 90 per cent retention rate of users who have travelled over 1,000 miles and have AI-based travelogues in at least three cities.  

    “The bucket list has also turned out to be a popular feature in Explurger. If you see someone Explurge-in at an interesting place, you can add that place to your bucket list. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill bookmarking feature. The app will automatically remind you when you are in that area. So even if it happens after years and you have forgotten, Explurger will notify you that you had saved it in your list,” shared Explurger co-founder Sonu Sood.

    Explurger has been selected by Google as one of the top 100 promising startups and top 30 mobile startups in India. An AI-powered social media app with a gamified user experience, it lets users connect and share their moments with friends and family online. The app goes beyond just sharing pictures and videos, it uses cutting-edge AI to automatically create travelogues of the memories users share on their profile. Whenever a user creates a post or ‘Explurge-in’, the app’s AI updates the travelogue, so every mile, city, country, pub, and club gets added.

    Each user’s Explurger level goes up as in-app engagement increases, leading to more recognition on the platform. Users accrue rewards based on their activity, which in turn can be redeemed later. Currently, Explurger has more than 40 top brands on board as part of its rewards system and over 190,794 rewards have been accessed by users.

    Explurger has been part of the Appscale Academy, a growth and development programme launched by MeitY and Google, where Indian start-ups are mentored on building high-quality apps for a global audience. The social media start-up was also recently recognised by Google in its Top 10 Innovative Apps in India list.

  • Explurger’s efforts to create an impact on the online travel community

    Explurger’s efforts to create an impact on the online travel community

    MUMBAI: Actor, philanthropist Sonu Sood and tech entrepreneur Jitin Bhatia have launched a travel based social media app Explurger. They claim that half a million users from over 40 countries are already present on its beta version. The app creates automatic travelogues by using artificial intelligence. It gamifies the social experience and rewards users for being socially active.

    Talking to Indiantelevision.com Explurger founder, CEO Jitin Bhatia noted that the idea came to him a few years back “I remember that I had come back from a place that I had visited. I had been to that place many times. I looked at social networks where I had earlier shared photos and content to find out how many times I had been to that place but I could not find any travelogue. That is where the whole concept of a social media app for travellers came to my mind. While users share photos and videos and get a few likes, comments after a few hours or days that content becomes history. Everyone forgets about it. So, I felt the need to create a social media app where every time a user creates a post and shares a photo or a video the A.I. in the app automatically creates a travelogue.

    “It keeps track of the miles, cities, places that the user has been to without any extra effort from the user’s side. That was the eureka moment for me and I started speaking to my friend Sonu Sood. He also had the vision that there should be a made in India social media app that is used by global audiences.”

    Bhatia added that the aim was also to give something back to users who share so much content and information. “In other networks they spend so much time but they do not get anything back in return. We combined these two concepts and we also decided to give rewards to users for being socially active. This is the second differentiator in our app. Another differentiator is that this is a social media app that uses gamification. The user level goes up every time a post is shared. The user earns Explurger counts. Higher the level more is the user’s recognition on the platform. This is how Explurger was born.”

    On the investment side he said that the app was bootstrapped initially. Last year a pre-series round of $1 million was raised. “Even then people had no idea of Sonu Sood being involved. We went out in the market and the virality around the beta version was good enough to raise the pre-series round. From three people we now have 22 people. We have reached a level where we can go global. In the past six months we have got users from over 40 countries.”

    On the revenue side he said that there will be five sources. “We have not started monetisation yet but we are looking to do so in the coming six months. We are looking at raising series A. We will close it soon and in a year’s time from now we expect three of those revenue streams to be active.”

    He added that so far 39 brands have tied up with the app and that is how rewards are being given to users. These, he said, are category A brands and the app is talking to global brands also including an airline. “More brands will come on-board. Brands want the amplification of their brand name.”

    The aim of the app is to create a solid base of content creators who will be rewarded. “In addition, we are looking to monetise the content that is created. This is the second phase. Revenue will be shared. Alliances are being done with different partners.”

    Bhatia added that Sonu Sood is not a brand ambassador.   “He is my partner, co-founder and is fully involved in the product. I handle the technology side. On the creative side he is fully involved. In fact, we have two offices in Delhi and Mumbai and we have our tech team sit in Delhi while in Mumbai we have our creative team. This is where he plays a big role. He also plays a big role in terms of the user acquisition.  He is well known on social media. People love him.  He has over three million followers across social media.”

    He said that the opportunity for his app is that 76 percent of four billion global social media users share pictures while on the move. That means around three billion people and this is the potential market. On the promotional and marketing activities front he said that so far user growth has been organic in the apps’ beta version. Now as Sonu Sood has been unveiled to the people as co-founder Bhatia is sure that many people who love the actor would start coming. 

    “He is a known personality. Our intention is to grow the app through word of mouth.  This will happen only if the product speaks for itself.  Our goal is to improve the product and features.

    On the tech front he said that the challenge is to come up with new ideas that have never been seen before. “The kind of concept that we have has not been done before by anyone.  A lot of R&D (research and development) was required in creation, developing new algorithms around the app. But user acquisition has not been a challenge. As we improved the app the usage also improved. Now we have to make sure that the product keeps engaging people. They must use it on a day-to-day basis.”

    With Sonu Sood as his partner, the Explurger idea might well travel.

  • Actor Sonu Sood & Tech entrepreneur Jitin Bhatia launch a travel based social media app ‘Explurger’

    Actor Sonu Sood & Tech entrepreneur Jitin Bhatia launch a travel based social media app ‘Explurger’

    Mumbai: Actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood & tech entrepreneur Jitin Bhatia have launched a travel-based social media app Explurger. They claim that half a million users from over 40 countries are already present on the beta version of the app. The app creates automatic travelogues by using artificial intelligence. It gamifies the social experience and rewards users for being socially active. 

    Explurger, which targets the travel community, claims to be the first social media app that offers rewards for its users to be active on its platform. Also, the more a user engages with the platform the higher the Explurger level goes. This results in more recognition on the platform. It creates a personalised travelogue for each user. Every time a user creates a post or an Explurge-in, the app’s artificial intelligence updates the travelogue, so every mile, city, country, pub, club,etc., get added to it. So travelling within one’s own city and exploring new areas also counts. The app has features like a bucket list and future travel plans.

    Explurger co-founder actor Sonu Sood explains that exploring new places is a passion of his. “So Explurger is basically borne out of this love for visiting new places and sharing them with my friends & family. Teaming up with Jitin to develop a made in India social media app for the world is akin to a new journey for me and I am super excited to put India through Explurger on the global map.”

    Explurger founder and CEO Jitin Bhatia noted that humans are travellers and social beings & Explurger will help them discover real travel itineraries written by real travellers with real route maps, photos and guides. “Explurger is an indigenous app platform that facilitates this in a unique and intuitive way, rewarding users for their posts on their travel updates, triggering wanderlust in followers and spreading positivity among the online community.”