Mahindra Group chairperson Anand Mahindra has invested $1 million (approximately Rs 7.55 crore at current exchange rates) in a seed funding round in Hapramp Studio, which is seeking to build out an Indian-owned and regulated social media creative platforms.
Mahindra confirmed his investment via a tweet. “[It] Took 2 yrs, but I finally found the start-up I was looking for! Hapramp is indigenous, built by 5 young founders and brings together a best-in-class combination of creativity, technology and data protection,” he said.
Gurugram-based The Hapramp Studio Pvt. Ltd, founded in 2018, is a startup that works on ideas at the intersection of the creative industry and information economy. Its co-founders and team include Shubhendra Vikram, Pratyush Singh, Ankit Kumar, Mofid Ansari and Rajat Dangi, who are all Indian Institute of Technology-Vadodara alumni.
Mahindra had first expressed his desire to invest in an Indian-owned and developed social media platform following the several controversies that rose around global giant Facebook Inc.
At the time, he also roped in former Mahindra Group executive Jaspreet Bindra to work on finding a relevant company. Currently, Bindra is serving as an executive advisor to Hapramp. Interestingly, Facebook in April purchased a minority stake in the Reliance Industries-owned Jio Platforms Ltd for $5.7 billion.
According to its website, Hapramp is working on several initiatives, including Go.Social, a learning-based social platform; 1Ramp.io, a social media platform for creative communities; and Asteria Protocol, a data privacy and security tool focussed on being accessible to all kinds of users.
“The Hapramp team is building a Web 3.0 social network. It is built on emerging digital technologies, has a solid business model which rewards content creators and protects personal data,” Bindra said, according to PTI.