Funding story
Social networking has become the “in thing” these days, with the proliferation of a number of online options which provide diverse offerings. The latest such exciting concept is that of the non-English social networking website. ShabdaNagari is a hindi social networking portal, which recently raised Rs. 1.2 crore in angel investment from Kanpur Angels and a number of other investors.
About ShabdaNagari
The raised funding is expected to be used for a variety of purposes-primarily to expand genres being offered by the site, and provide an exciting user interface. The platform is meant to primarily cater the rapidly rising rural internet usage segment. Thus, the knowledge of English no longer remains a pre-requisite for social networking participation online.
The ShabdaNagari team is led by Kalpnesh Gupta, who claims that his goal is to bridge the digital divide. The Kanpur Angels team, meanwhile, has been associated with IIT Kanpur and other colleges in Kanpur, and has set aside a corpus of Rs.10 crore to provide angel investments to promising startups. Their first investment is ShabdaNagari, and it looks set to go a long way.
Conclusion
ShabdaNagari is also available as an Android offering, and it aims to reach 1-1.5 million users, creating a reliable marketplace for vernacular books, and ensure that native mobile apps are supported. Overall, it is an exciting concept which is sure to have its place in the sun.
For more info, visit the portal here.
