Lucknow-based Startup Knocksense Raises $200,000 In Angel Round The mediatech startup plans to launch video stories, Hindi content with its expansion in other tier-II cities of India
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Mediatech local content production platform Knocksense on Thursday announced to have raised $200,000 in an angel round from Mohit Satyanand's syndicate on Let's Venture. The round also saw participation from other angel investors like Neeraj Tyagi, Piyush Doshi, Tom Varkey, Syed Faiz Hasan, Mathew Varkey, Simmarpal Singh, Venus Dhuria, and Amit Tyagi among others.
"This fundraise is a sure-footed step towards the Knocksense vision, of a content network that is generated hyper-locally, and available nationally; that offers a brand-building platform for the neighborhood salon, as much as for the global brand. On behalf of Let's Venture investors, I congratulate the founders, and I am personally excited to be part of this journey," stated Mohit Satyanand, chairman, Teamwork Arts, and founder, Crax.
The media portal was founded in November 2016, now generating over 20 million organic impressions per month. Further, the mediatech startup plans to launch video stories, Hindi content with its expansion in other tier-II cities of India.
"COVID-19 situation has increased the digital content consumption, our aim is to create a truly local channel which brings the unorganized local ad market from offline to online and the pandemic has certainly helped the cause. The fundraise will help us penetrate deep in the markets we are active in and launch our subscription plan, which will strengthen user engagement and brand integration," shared Varul Mayank, founder, Knocksense.
Knocksense Media Services Pvt. Ltd. is currently present in six cities in India - Mumbai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Goa, Indore, and Jaipur.
"We firmly believe that hyperlocal economy is the next wave of growth for Indian startups and Knocksense is perfectly poised to leverage this. They are a unique entity that produces news & recommendations that enable hyperlocal businesses & also create a strong social network. We have already committed to three more investments in hyperlocal economy & so are very excited about Knocksense," explained Neeraj Tyagi, managing partner, Venture Catalysts.
Knocksense plans to invest these funds in improving its IT infrastructure and strengthening the content team.
"As a content producer, our focus will be on creating engaging content which is a mix of local news, recommendations, videos, features, and more. When it comes to the news we are committed to producing only non-divisive stories that do not breed negativity or sensationalism. Tier-II cities with an active millennial audience will be our target," added Vibhore Mayank, founder, Knocksense.
Earlier, Knocksense had raised seed funding from Neelansha Dwivedi, Amitesh Pandey, and a bridge round from Mumbai Angels Network in June 2020.
