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Meet Jani Pasha, IITian who turned WhatsApp group into Rs 225 crore funding business
The Bengaluru-based company's app has over 40 million downloads in over 180 districts. It is available in six languages.
Updated : May 07, 2023, 09:26 AM IST | Edited by : Vaibhav Tiwari
 "Jani Pasha: Apart from news, the company also offers services like classifieds, advertisements, jobs. (File)")
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Lokal, a hyperlocal content platform, has raised Rs 120 crore funding from Global Brain Corporation and Sony Innovation Fund at an undisclosed valuation. The money will be used to accelerate growth of the company. With this, the company has raised Rs 225 crore in total. The platform unifies content, community and classified in hyperlocal settings. The company was founded in 2010 by Jani Pasha and Vipul Chaudhary. It raised nearly 3 million dollars the very next year. In 2021, it raised another 12 million dollars.
The Bengaluru-based company's app has over 40 million downloads in over 180 districts. It is available in six languages.
Jani Pasha did his engineering in 2013, from IIT Kharagpur. The story of how he built the company with Chaudhary -- IIT post-graduate engineer -- is very interesting.
In 2017, the two friends built a news aggregator platform called The Soup. However, due to lack of market research, it didn't work. They then reached out to the masses in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. They later launched the platform called Lokal.
The people wanted instant news of their city, in their own language. Their only medium was the newspaper that provided stale news, the next day. They wanted to provide native news in an instant format. This is how the idea took shape.
Apart from news, the company also offers services like classifieds, advertisements, jobs etc.
It wasn't an app initially. They hired a stringer in Telangana's Kodad district in February 2018. They made a WhatsGroup group and started distributing local news. The WhatsGrou grew leaps and bound, Jani told Your Story in an old interview.
They later added matrimonials and job listings. The features were an instant hit.
They added another feature later -- auto-moderation. Now most of their content is automated.
They have a simple feed. The company also lists real estate listings.
The company has since added several industry leaders to bolster its team.
The company is present in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
It said that 70 percent of their users are between 18-25 year old people who are either earning or have a college degree. 30 percent of their users are business owners.
