Microsoft-backed VerSe bags US$805m in new funding

VerSe Innovation, an Indian tech firm that runs news aggregator Dailyhunt and short-video social media platform Josh, has raised US$805 million in new funding.

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

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board led the round with a US$425 million investment. Other global investors, including Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Luxor Capital, and Sumeru Ventures, also invested in VerSe. The round takes VerSe’s valuation to nearly US$5 billion.

VerSe said its existing investors Sofina Group, Baillie Gifford, and others will also return to invest in it.

The latest fundraise comes after VerSe raked in over US$650 million in its series I round last August. In the last year, it has raised a  total of US$1.5 billion.

Its Josh app has more than 150 million monthly active users (MAUs). Dailyhunt, meanwhile, now serves more than 350 million users every month. The platform provides content in 15 languages from more than 100,000 content partners and individual content creators.

The company also runs PublicVibe, a hyperlocal video platform with over 5 million MAUs and 1 million daily active users.

Founded in 2007, VerSe Innovation was co-founded by veteran entrepreneur Virendra Gupta and former Facebook India and South Asia managing director Umang Bedi.

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The company plans to use the fresh capital to enhance its content platforms and improve AI, machine learning, and data science capabilities. It also aims to foray into the Web3 space and focus on monetization through influencers, ecommerce, and livestreaming.