Two investors, including US-based North Base Media Fund, have put in money in a start-up here that has come out with an audio news and content app ‘Funcastic‘.
“This app allows you to listen to all kinds of news, be it political, sports or entertainment in both Hindi and English languages. There is a plethora of content, and depending on your mood, you can hear it,” founder of Funcastic Vivekraj Shah said.
This app was co-founded by him, along with Surpreet Singh. Shah and Singh are management graduates from Cardiff Metropolitan University.
“The finances raised will be mainly used to fund technology development and product marketing,” Shah said, adding that “we are looking to raise more funds and are in discussion with many investors at this juncture”.
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The app offers several options, including news analysis and content related to health, lifestyle and spirituality, among others.
According to Shah, the app can work offline where users can download the content and listen to it later.
“Currently, it is free of charge, but we will start charging after we cross one lakh users,” he added.
About the future of such business, he cited investors talking about the app having a huge potential in India as mobile Internet data seek to cover the most of 1.25 billion population.
The application is in Hindi and English and the firm plans to start regional content shortly.
“We believe that there are several times during a day such as commuting, driving, exercising, when an user is unable to stare at his mobile screen. During this time, we want to give the users an alternative to what content they can consume, be it comedy, spirituality, news and magazine other than just music and radio,” Shah said in a statement.
Singh said that with the increasing penetration of smartphones in India and continued improvement of data connectivity, “we see a huge market for our product”.
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