Pseudonymous Social Network Start-up Zorro Secures $3.2 Million from 3one4 Capital & Others
Zorro, a social network incubator, has secured $3.2 million in a seed round headed by 3one4 Capital and 9Unicorns Ventures, with participation from Roots Ventures, Eximius Ventures, and Venture Catalyst.
Along with other angel investors, Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm), Kunal Shah (CRED), Ritesh Agarwal (OYO), Gaurav Gupta (Zomato), Ashish Hemrajani (BookMyShow), Jitendra Gupta (Jupiter), Ashneer Grover (BharatPe), Lalit Keshre (Groww), and Ankiti Bose (Zilingo) invested in the round.
Zorro, founded in 2021 by Jasveer Singh, Abhishek Asthana, and Deepak Kumar, is an anonymous social networking platform that allows users to post personal tales anonymously.
When a client signs up for Zorro with their phone number, they may link their Twitter account to the platform, allowing it to access their followers and followers list. Zoro then searches its site for users who are either following or following the new person on Twitter, and adds their content to the new user's timeline.
Except for one thing: everyone's personal identity is concealed, and the only way to identify them is by a badge that correlates to their work/expertise. A user could, for example, wear a badge that states "doctor" or "founder of a unicorn."
Zorro co-founder and CEO Jasveer Singh stated, “Zorro is a pseudonymous social network, which is ring-fenced and content moderated. This gives you a clean timeline consisting of people from your network, sharing and consuming content freely. Moreover, we are fortunate to have some great founders on board, who bring a wealth of experience to the table”. The newly invested funds will be utilised to expand the startup's tech team.
The hole left by TikTok's exodus has given rise to a slew of Indian native social media firms, particularly in the short-form video market. Josh, Moj, MX Takatak, and Chingari others are among them.
Earlier this year, another Indian social networking platform, Koo, raised $30 million in a Series B fundraising round headed by Tiger Global, at a time when its rival Twitter was under government scrutiny for its moderation practises. Existing investors Accel Partners, Dream Incubator, Blume Ventures, and Kalaari Capital joined the start-up's Series B investment.
“We believe that everyone thinks twice before expressing themselves on social media because their identity is attached to it. Zorro is supposed to be the platform where you can say the truth without having to worry about being judged or any of the other problems with revealing your identity publicly,” added Jasveer Singh.
Mohalla Tech, the parent firm of Bengaluru-based social media start-up ShareChat, was in talks to acquire Times Internet's MX TakaTak earlier this year. Mohalla Tech also owns Moj, a short-video application that competes with MX TakaTak.
Between 2021 and 2025, the Indian social media advertising sector is predicted to develop at a CAGR of 28.39 percent, reaching INR 17,532 crore ($2.32 Billion). As a result, there is a large market for many foreign and domestic social media networks to carve out a niche.
Along with other angel investors, Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm), Kunal Shah (CRED), Ritesh Agarwal (OYO), Gaurav Gupta (Zomato), Ashish Hemrajani (BookMyShow), Jitendra Gupta (Jupiter), Ashneer Grover (BharatPe), Lalit Keshre (Groww), and Ankiti Bose (Zilingo) invested in the round.
Zorro, founded in 2021 by Jasveer Singh, Abhishek Asthana, and Deepak Kumar, is an anonymous social networking platform that allows users to post personal tales anonymously.
When a client signs up for Zorro with their phone number, they may link their Twitter account to the platform, allowing it to access their followers and followers list. Zoro then searches its site for users who are either following or following the new person on Twitter, and adds their content to the new user's timeline.
Except for one thing: everyone's personal identity is concealed, and the only way to identify them is by a badge that correlates to their work/expertise. A user could, for example, wear a badge that states "doctor" or "founder of a unicorn."
Zorro co-founder and CEO Jasveer Singh stated, “Zorro is a pseudonymous social network, which is ring-fenced and content moderated. This gives you a clean timeline consisting of people from your network, sharing and consuming content freely. Moreover, we are fortunate to have some great founders on board, who bring a wealth of experience to the table”. The newly invested funds will be utilised to expand the startup's tech team.
The hole left by TikTok's exodus has given rise to a slew of Indian native social media firms, particularly in the short-form video market. Josh, Moj, MX Takatak, and Chingari others are among them.
Earlier this year, another Indian social networking platform, Koo, raised $30 million in a Series B fundraising round headed by Tiger Global, at a time when its rival Twitter was under government scrutiny for its moderation practises. Existing investors Accel Partners, Dream Incubator, Blume Ventures, and Kalaari Capital joined the start-up's Series B investment.
“We believe that everyone thinks twice before expressing themselves on social media because their identity is attached to it. Zorro is supposed to be the platform where you can say the truth without having to worry about being judged or any of the other problems with revealing your identity publicly,” added Jasveer Singh.
Mohalla Tech, the parent firm of Bengaluru-based social media start-up ShareChat, was in talks to acquire Times Internet's MX TakaTak earlier this year. Mohalla Tech also owns Moj, a short-video application that competes with MX TakaTak.
Between 2021 and 2025, the Indian social media advertising sector is predicted to develop at a CAGR of 28.39 percent, reaching INR 17,532 crore ($2.32 Billion). As a result, there is a large market for many foreign and domestic social media networks to carve out a niche.
.jpg "The Week that Was: Indian Startup News Overview (26th May - 1st June)")
