ITV

Tag: Roposo

  • Indian short-video platforms score funding from global investors

    Indian short-video platforms score funding from global investors

    KOLKATA: When one door closes, another opens. The ban on TikTok resulted in a wellspring of similar short video format platforms which became home to India’s considerable content creation community. Josh and Roposo are among these homegrown video sharing apps which rode the vocal for local wave and expanded their market shares post the government cracking the whip on Chinese apps. They quickly racked up several million downloads and an active user base within days of launch. Now, their growth trajectory has piqued the interest of top-notch global investors.

    TikTok copycat Josh’s parent company Bengaluru-based VerSe Innovation has raised nearly Rs 740 crore ($100 million) from investors like Google, Microsoft, AlphaWave. VerSe Innovation is valued at more than around Rs 7,400 crore ($ 1 billion) following the investment. Additionally, Roposo’s parent company Glance InMobi has just concluded a Rs 1,070 crore ($145 million) investment round from Google and Mithril Capital.

    Google is optimistic that the investments in leading Indian start-ups will enable them to further scale the availability of relevant and engaging content in different formats across various Indic languages.

    “We’re also eager to support the wider ecosystem in India, particularly local startups innovating in this space. When we shared details of the India Digitization Fund in July this year, we identified enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language, whether it’s Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, and more as a key pillar in order to drive forward India’s digitisation,” Google said in a blogpost.

    VerSe Innovation has joined India’s unicorn club on the back of this latest round of funding, which will be deployed towards the augmentation of local language content offerings, the development of content creator ecosystem, and innovation in AI and ML along with focusing on Josh. The app currently has more than 77 million monthly active users and 36 million daily active users and plays over 1.5 billion videos per day.

    On the other hand, Glance will use the new investment to deepen its AI capability across Glance and Roposo, expand its technology team, and launch services on the platform. The app has more than 33 million monthly active users and has been downloaded more than 100 million times on Google Play Store.

    Back in September, ShareChat (behind the short video format app Moj) also raised roughly Rs 300 crores ($40 million) from investors including Twitter Inc and Lightspeed Ventures. According to a recent report, short-form videos have emerged as the fastest-growing content category in India with 180 million users in the financial year 2020.

  • Roposo launches ‘Pride of India’ collaboration with Indian achievers

    Roposo launches ‘Pride of India’ collaboration with Indian achievers

    NEW DELHI: Roposo launches the 'Pride of India' program, a collaboration with Indian achievers like Babita Phogat, Chandro Tomar, Neel Ghose and Sangram Singh. The multifaceted program recognises remarkable Indians by providing them with a platform to mentor and inspire fellow Indians.   

    India is a land of many talents. Many Indians have made it big in their chosen field and many more are waiting to be discovered. Roposo believes that each of us has an innate talent that needs a bit of inspiration and a platform to shine.  

    The inaugural phase of the program kickstarts with Babita Phogat, India's first gold medal winner in women's wrestling at the Commonwealth Games, Chandro Tomar aka Shooter Dadi, who at the age of 88 years is the oldest woman sharpshooter in the world, Sangram Singh, the world's best wrestler (as per World Wrestling Professionals), and Neel Ghose, whose Robin Hood Army is on a mission to feed 30 Million Citizens.  

    "Just like age has no bearing on my achievements, Roposo is an all-encompassing platform that doesn't differentiate across statures. I am happy to contribute to a platform that doesn’t put constraints on unlocking one’s full potential,” says Chandro Tomar.

    Each 'Pride of India' mentor will have a Roposo profile to share their experiences and life lessons with other aspiring Indians through innovative Roposo-styled short-video capsules.  

    The series will comprise:

    Chandro Tomar's life lessons around persistence, dedication and discipline [click here]
    Sangram Singh's tips on physical wellness [click here]
    Neel Ghose’s insights on providing meals for the less fortunate [click here]
    Babita Phogat's talk about self-defense techniques [releasing soon]

    "As the largest #MadeInIndia social video platform in the country, we have a great responsibility towards creating a platform rooted in Indian culture and ethos," said Glance CMO Bikash Chowdhury,  which owns Roposo. "With the Roposo Pride of India’ program, we hope to recognize Indians who have made the nation proud and contribute to the cause of nation-building by inspiring millions of Indians to realise their full potential."  

    "I'm really grateful to the Roposo team for providing this platform – the "pride" honestly belongs to every single Robin in the Robin Hood Army," said Neel Ghose. "We've done impact campaigns with Roposo over the years, so it's even more special coming from a team which obviously cares about building a better, more inclusive community and future." 

    Chandro Tomar, Neel Ghose, and Sangram Singh are already Roposo active, having garnered more than 25k followers within a day. Babita Phogat will be sharing her first message in the coming days.  

    Follow Tellychakkar for the consumer facing news & entertainment

  • TikTok ban: Indian UGC apps ready to take on traffic; see advertiser interest too

    TikTok ban: Indian UGC apps ready to take on traffic; see advertiser interest too

    KOLKATA: TikTok had become a rage among millions of Indian youth until the Indian government’s interim ban crushed its multi-billion dollar strategy. Creators, influencers and marketers will have to seek an alternative platform as the future of TikTok remains uncertain in the country. But the flip side of the story is a silver-lining for Indian platforms and video sharing apps which are now poised to grow fast. UGC platforms like Roposo and Bolo Indya have started seeing a massive user base shift to their platforms.

    These homegrown apps had already been growing since the last few weeks when the call to use local brands started. With the recent decision of the government, they are set to see never-expected traffic, at least the instant reaction seems so. Bolo Indya co-founder Varun Saxena says it saw over one lakh new creators joining the platform in less than 24 hours and around five lakh new videos had already been created. Roposo co-founder Mayank Bhangadia says a number of TikTok influencers have already announced their shift to the Indian short video app. He adds that it will direct followers to the platform as well.

    “It is a big boost for most of the short video platforms because these creators will look for a new platform. It’s a big opportunity for Indian applications from the perspective of getting new creators and high volume also,” Saxena adds.

    However, he also mentions that most of the TikTok influencers are now exploring where they can get a good follower which includes Instagram and YouTube too. He adds that for a few days they will be creating content on all the platforms and will stick to one once they get a loyal audience. Saxena says Bolo Indya is favourable to creators compared to others as its format, interface, time length is very similar to TikTok. 

    According to Bhangadia, this change is extremely good for an Indian entrepreneur and will give them a very good boost. He says that they have got calls from close to 20 brands inquiring about how to advertise on Roposo the morning after the ban. They are hopeful that the shift will be happening in the next few days.

    “Roposo is best positioned because we have been working for the last few years and we have built a product which is not available anywhere in India. The kind of camera feature we have along with other features is not available on all apps. The holistic nature of the platform is able to accommodate many communities. We don’t focus only on lip sync or short act. We have all kind of talented people. Hence, creators are shifting to us,” he adds.

    Saxena says that they were already doing content marketing working with certain brands. And the major reason brands were working with the platform despite the fact that it had less volume compared to TikTok was the higher spending power of users on the app compared to TikTok and Helo. While new creators will give it a better volume also, Saxena is optimistic that they would definitely see more and more brands coming to Indian applications for content marketing.

    “In a short to medium term, advertisers and agencies will look at alternate platforms to help them meet their marketing goals. Some of the banned platforms are sizeable, so it would be difficult to find an immediate apparent replacement. In this case, a combination of replacements or an increase in presence in existing platforms can be an option. Also, the ban is still a little unclear from an implementation standpoint. The downloaded apps are still running, though new downloads are at a halt. If the government calls for a complete ban, things will go south for these platforms. Even then, I don’t believe brands will advertise on these apps, fearing public outrage,” TheSmallBigIdea CEO and co-founder Harikrishnan Pillai says.

    “For influencers, from a short-term POV, the business will be affected if they have had a single platform focus. From a long-term perspective, Indian apps have a great opportunity to grow. ‘Revenge Download’ will lead to a sudden spike of Indian apps. Whether they manage to be sticky and effective, time will tell,” Pillai adds.

    While the sudden spike in traffic will be a pressure on the apps, they are ready to take on new users. Saxena says they had started updating their infrastructure a couple of weeks back because it was expecting something like this to take place. They have been pro-actively ready to take the kind of surge it saw since Monday night. As he shares, there was hardly 1.5 minutes of downtime because it was upgrading infrastructure.

    Bhangadia is also confident about Roposo’s engineering team. He also says that the team has been preparing because the app had seen surge coming in the last four months since the lockdown started. It got accelerated in the last few weeks when people started shifting to Indian products. He also mentions that they are part of a much larger InMobi group. 

    "This is a welcome move from the government against platforms that have had serious privacy, cybersecurity and national security risks. We expect the government to continue their support for the Indian startup ecosystem,” ShareChat public policy director Berges Malu comments. 

  • Roposo claims to be India’s top short video app post TikTok ban

    Roposo claims to be India’s top short video app post TikTok ban

    NEW DELHI: With the Indian government on Monday banning 59 Chinese apps over concerns that these apps were engaging in activities that threatened “national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India”, ByteDance’s TikTok had to say goodbye to India. 

    Roposo, the short video app with more than 65 million downloads, has been the number one social app on the Google Play Store in recent times.

    TikTok users, including influencers with huge fan followings have started switching to Roposo in large numbers after the ban, says the company. Influencers who have switched to Roposo include Prem Vats and Noor Afshan who had fan followings of 9.5 million and 9 million respectively on TikTok. MyGov, the citizen engagement platform founded by the government of India has already been present on Roposo.

    With Roposo, users finally have a way to enjoy responsible entertainment while showcasing their talent. Roposo is available in 12 Indian languages and has more than 14 million video creators and 80 million videos created monthly.

    “Our mission is to provide Indians with the largest talent platform that is truly Indian,” said co-founder Mayank Bhangadia. “We have built Roposo as a clean and ethical platform. The unique idea of channels in Roposo provides every talented Indian with an opportunity to grow rapidly.”

    A product of Indian minds, Roposo was founded by three IIT Delhi engineers and is owned by Glance. The platform centres around enabling every Indian to showcase their talent in their own unique way. The app’s ease of use combined with powerful video editing tools, and pre-existing communities that users can identify and interact with, in their mother tongue, has made Roposo a leading Made In India short video app. 

    InMobi group founder and CEO Naveen Tewari said, “As the number one short video app on the Google Play Store, Roposo is very well-positioned to lead this transformation in India. Roposo will continue to build on the trust and love that 65 million Indian users have placed in us.”

    Follow Tellychakkar for the consumer facing news & entertainment

  • Want to help apps in creating short video platforms: Roposo’s Avinash Saxena

    Want to help apps in creating short video platforms: Roposo’s Avinash Saxena

    MUMBAI: At a time when local versus global is being heavily promoted, a number of homegrown start-ups are also gaining from the trend. While the user-generated content (UGC) ecosystem in India has largely been dominated by a few global players, a number of homegrown ones are gradually emerging. Roposo, which falls among the promising ones, now has more than five crore users. 

    In a virtual roundtable by Indiantelevision.com, Roposo co-founder and Glance VP product management Avinash Saxena said that it has more than 100 million daily active users (DAU) now. Roposo was acquired by InMobi Group’s Glance last year, making its ecosystem stronger. Saxena said that a lot of people see content through lock screen on their phones through Glance, which has video content, news and a game centre.

    While Saxena mentioned that millions of videos are being created on Roposo, it has various channels on which those videos go up. Rather than having a singular feed like other short video platforms, Roposo believes in the diversity of content, allowing for multi-channel viewing. He also added that content on Roposo is very diverse including creators showcasing talents, users expressing views, updating local news, teaching, etc.

    “Roposo is working brilliantly with communities and Glance is helping communities to increase the outreach of videos created through the community. So we thought why not help other apps to create short video platforms and that is why we have a very important SDK. We are testing with a couple of partners and have got wonderful results. It can help any app to become a short video platform for their own community,” Saxena added.

    Usually, on Roposo, every user spends 20-25 minutes every day, watching nearly 100 short videos per day. While during the Covid2019 crisis more people have turned online, Saxena said  Roposo is serving a purpose to connect people and keeping the connection alive through interesting videos and helping them get over the boredom. According to him, community engagement is keeping their morale high. 

    However, as now lockdown is easing in many places, Saxena said that many of the videos being created out of the home. He said that many videos are being created on Covid2019-related topics on the back of their interesting filters. They also have a channel dedicated for Covid2019-related topics.

    Saxena said that they are directly competing with TikTok although being a different product. He said that the local crowd is supporting them and also sharing constructive feedback. However, he stated that if someone makes a good product, the community will support and extend the app’s awareness, making it viral. But if a product is not good it won’t be able to thrive whatever the origin might be. 

    “From November we have been a part of InMobi group, which works across the globe. There is a committee which takes care of everything related to security and user information. We have not experienced any attack which has altered content but if there is any we will be quick to respond,” Saxena added on security concerns.

    He also opined that allowing creators to be creative, building a community and creating a smart recommendation engine is mandatory for such platforms to succed.

  • Will boycott of Chinese apps unleash new possibilities for local ones?

    Will boycott of Chinese apps unleash new possibilities for local ones?

    NEW DELHI: Chinese apps such as TikTok, Helo, Zoom, Bigo, Shareit, etc., are widely used in India, some even enjoying a monopoly. But the ongoing standoff between India and China is hitting at the sentiments of Indian users.

    Recently, Indian social reformer, Sonam Wangchuk, posted a video message on YouTube urging people to invest in ‘Made in India’ products and boycott Chinese products and mobile applications. It became a hit on
    Twitter too, and in a short span, #boycottchineseapps #boycottchineseproducts started trending on social media.

    The episode has resulted in a surge in downloads of homegrown apps like Roposo, Bolo Indya, Say Namaste, Mitro, and many others.

    Fulcro founder and MD Sabyasachi Mitter believes, “The anti-China sentiment is very high at this point and many consumers are uninstalling Chinese apps like TikTok. However, this is more likely a temporary phenomenon and most users will again use these apps once the political tensions ease. Apps are valuable for both its functionality as well as community. Local apps need not just build great user experience but also focus on community growth. We must
    remember that Telegram is a great messenger platform but has no user traction in India.”

    In the last two years, Chinese apps have been dominating the Indian app market and they have risen from 18 to around 45 in the top apps category on Google play store.

    Roposo has over 50 million users while Mitro is giving a tough competition to Tik Tok with over five million downloads. The recent growth in local apps has not only been about the number of downloads but also time spent. 

    Will advertisers be keen to invest in these apps despite their lower popularity?

    Sabyasachi replies, “A large part of display advertising today is through SSPs and DSPS and as the apps get eyeballs their inventory will be targetable through programmatic. Brands are more focused on buying audiences and not choosing specific apps or portals to advertise on.”

    Independent communications and marketing consultant Karthik Srinivasan, points out that advertisers usually look at the largest presence of their target audiences. “If the new made-in-India apps can convince advertisers that they do have a large pool of relevant target audiences, that could work. But these platforms are very new and are only growing the user base now. Compared to them, the established platforms have many more users that have been gained over the years. So, advertisers would naturally prefer a larger user base for their marketing.”

    iProspect India AVP – digital buying and planning Mihir Mehta says, “Advertisers will always look for the next best app or platform to advertise. So, if some of these apps are boycotted, the next best app in terms of reach will excite them whether it is Indian or not.”

    Makani Creatives MD and co-founder Sameer Makani opines that it is time to go for local and prefer local over foreign. “Advertisers can find alternatives to advertise on these apps as they can be cheaper in the market compared to existing social media giants. The Vocal for Local initiative is giving an opportunity for Indian apps and businesses to market-creating better possibilities,” he says.

    However, the apps need to work on some areas if the want to retain eyeballs.

    Mehta says, “Focus on awareness and discoverability of their app is important. Also, the attention span of users these days is very low. So, local apps should use this opportunity to better the product to be able to retain their customers.”

  • ‘Thank Her Everyday’ this International Day

    MUMBAI: Recognising the unparalleled contribution of the lady domestic help, a unique campaign is being run by Roposo on this International Women’s day wherein they urge us to thank our domestic help. Supported by a special hashtag, it is being widely used on the social media platform.

    Roposo, one of India’s favourite fashion social network, is set for another offbeat women’s day celebration. The platform has planned a campaign to acknowledge and honour the unsung female domestic help. This Women’s Day campaign will focus on thanking these women for their invaluable and soulful contributions to all our lives.

    Every Indian household today has a female help to assist with the daily chores and look after the needs of all the family members. These women are the support pillars of our everyday lives but are often not given due credit and gratitude. With the objective to recognise the hard work of these wonderful women in our lives, the fashion network is starting a social media campaign providing everyone with a platform to express their heartfelt gratitude towards these female heroes. Users can upload happy images with their domestic helps with a few humble lines of appreciation, adding #ThankHerEveryday.

    Roposo co-founder and CEO Mayank Bhangadia said, “Women across all strata need to be recognised for their hard work and feat. Female domestic helps form a vital part of our daily routine, and most of us find it difficult to function without them. This year’s Women’s Day campaign is our little effort to get people to recognise the good work of these women. Hope to see a great number of users expressing their gratitude towards their female domestic helps through the platform.”

    Roposo social media manager Ravneet Kaur said, “Female staff in urban Indian homes is not an uncommon sight. I would like to believe that all of us, including our family and friends, treat them in a fair, just and warm manner. However, there are a lot of people who don’t, and what they don’t realise is that these women form the backbone of our daily lives. This Women’s Day campaign is centred around highlighting and thanking these women for their unmatched kindness and hard work.”

  • Roposo appoints Anand Jha and Saurabh Khullar

    Roposo appoints Anand Jha and Saurabh Khullar

    MUMBAI: India’s fashion social network Roposo has strengthened its leadership ranks with the appointments of Anand Jha as the Head of Design and Saurabh Khullar as the Head of Sales.

    Speaking on the appointments, Roposo co-founder Avinash Saxena said, “Roposo has had a phenomenal growth story so far. As we prepare to helm the company into its next level of evolution, we are pleased to welcome Saurabh and Anand on board to lead the key divisions of Sales and Design. Both bring tremendous experience and dynamism along with years of rich industry experience. We are certain that their contributions to the Roposo growth narrative will be significant and that they will be a perfect synergistic match for our existing team.”

    At Roposo, Jha will look after the entire user interface and user experience.

    Speaking on his appointment, Jha said, “I am glad to be a part of this enthusiastic and diligent team at Roposo. Design is central to Roposo and my job will be to build on the already-outstanding product. Through an enriched design offering, Roposo will be able to further establish its market leadership stance and make deeper inroads in the consumer mindscape across India. ”

    Khullar too added, “I believe that Roposo has had an exceptional growth graph given the current business climate. I’m looking forward to further enhancing its revenue model and sales numbers and contribute to the company’s upward trajectory. The team’s energy and passion for the product is truly infectious and I’m looking forward to working with them.”

    As the company has been crossing one milestone after the other, with a user base of 3 Million and its ever growing popularity among celebrities and enthusiasts alike, these new appointments highlight function expansion within the team. Roposo is now entering the next stage of growth and will be focusing on revenue generation along with its persistent endeavor of product development.

  • Roposo appoints Anand Jha and Saurabh Khullar

    Roposo appoints Anand Jha and Saurabh Khullar

    MUMBAI: India’s fashion social network Roposo has strengthened its leadership ranks with the appointments of Anand Jha as the Head of Design and Saurabh Khullar as the Head of Sales.

    Speaking on the appointments, Roposo co-founder Avinash Saxena said, “Roposo has had a phenomenal growth story so far. As we prepare to helm the company into its next level of evolution, we are pleased to welcome Saurabh and Anand on board to lead the key divisions of Sales and Design. Both bring tremendous experience and dynamism along with years of rich industry experience. We are certain that their contributions to the Roposo growth narrative will be significant and that they will be a perfect synergistic match for our existing team.”

    At Roposo, Jha will look after the entire user interface and user experience.

    Speaking on his appointment, Jha said, “I am glad to be a part of this enthusiastic and diligent team at Roposo. Design is central to Roposo and my job will be to build on the already-outstanding product. Through an enriched design offering, Roposo will be able to further establish its market leadership stance and make deeper inroads in the consumer mindscape across India. ”

    Khullar too added, “I believe that Roposo has had an exceptional growth graph given the current business climate. I’m looking forward to further enhancing its revenue model and sales numbers and contribute to the company’s upward trajectory. The team’s energy and passion for the product is truly infectious and I’m looking forward to working with them.”

    As the company has been crossing one milestone after the other, with a user base of 3 Million and its ever growing popularity among celebrities and enthusiasts alike, these new appointments highlight function expansion within the team. Roposo is now entering the next stage of growth and will be focusing on revenue generation along with its persistent endeavor of product development.