Microsoft-backed VerSe Innovation raises $450m in series I round

VerSe Innovation, an Indian tech firm that operates news aggregator Dailyhunt and short-video social media platform Josh, has raised US$450 million in its series I funding round.

Global investors like Baillie Gifford, an affiliate of Carlyle Asia Partners Growth II, and Siguler Guff joined the fundraise. The round also saw the return of existing investors such as Sofina Group, BCap, and Qatar Investment Authority, the Middle Eastern country’s sovereign wealth fund.

VerSe Innovation co-founders Umang Bedi (left) and Virendra Gupta / Photo credit: Dailyhunt

VerSe said that the latest financing has doubled its valuation, nearly US$3 billion, from what it was at the close of its last round five months ago, when the company raised over US$200 million for its short-video app Josh at a valuation of more than US$1 billion.

This would imply that VerSe’s valuation exceeded US$2 billion after its latest fundraise. The investors in the series H round included QIA, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Falcon Edge Capital via Alpha Wave Ventures, Google, and Microsoft. VerSe has secured more than US$650 million in funding from investors this year.

The startup plans to use the freshly raised capital to strengthen its position as a fast-growing, AI-driven content platform available in local Indian languages by enhancing its machine learning and data science capabilities.

The firm will also look to drive up monetization in the ecommerce and live-streaming arenas. VerSe said it has a base of over 50 million local-language creators and over 80 billion video plays per month.

The company noted that Josh is the fastest-growing short-video app in India, with more than 115 million monthly active users and over 56 million daily active users. It added that its Dailyhunt app caters to more than 300 million users every month.