Serial entrepreneur Aditya Vuchi’s privacy technology venture, Doosra, has raised seed funding of an undisclosed amount, led by Omidyar Network India. Other investors include Titan Capital and 2am Ventures, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
“While we tackle such an important topic of privacy, I felt it is important to bring in the right investors to help evangelise the product, and also help with strategic partnerships and to elevate the cause of privacy," said Vuchi.
Founded in 2020, Doosra provides a SIM-free virtual mobile number that users can use in situations where they are compelled to share their personal mobile number. All incoming calls to the Doosra number are either automatically blocked or sent to voicemail. Users can sign in to the website, select a plan and get a phone number of their choice for instant activation. All blocked calls, messages, OTPs and voicemail can be reviewed, and settings managed through the app. The company was bootstrapped by Vuchi till this seed round.
According to the statement, Doosra has over 100,000 downloads, and blocked over 700,000 calls and 2.5 million messages from over 50,000 telemarketers in the last 12 months. It helps women safely communicate without the need to share their personal numbers. The company is seeing good traction in the business-to-business (B2B) segment as well, where merchants are using a Doosra number to separate their personal and business communication, the statement said.
Earlier this month, Brightcom Group Ltd, an ad-tech company, acquired Vuchi Media Pvt Ltd, which operates MediaMint-- a company founded by Vuchi and his wife Neelima Marupuru.
Omidyar Network India invests in entrepreneurs who help low-income and lower-middle-income populations, ranging from the poorest to the existing middle class, the statement said.
Recently, a SaaS-led food supply platformFarMart raised capital from Matrix Partners India, with participation from Omidyar Network India, among others. In July, it invested in the agritech startup Crofarm Agriproducts.