Gurgaon-based Novelroots Internet Pvt Ltd, a startup that operates under the brand Nearify, an events discovery app, has secured an undisclosed sum in seed funding from Seedfund Advisors and India Quotient, with participation from Bedrock Ventures, a seed- and early-stage investor.
The startup was founded in December 2012 by three IIT Kanpur alumni—Mayank Kumar, Saurav Singh and Vivek Srivastava. Nearify collates information on a large set of events such as concerts, music festivals, parties, workshops, shows, meet-ups and makes the list available to users on a user-friendly platform. A user can plan his/ her evening by just typing in the requirements on the app. Nearify segregates the information of the events available based on multiple criteria such as distance from the current location and genre of entertainment, making it easier for a user to identify an event best suited to his/her needs.
The app uses technology to aggregate data related to events from the web, which goes through a proprietary data processing engine for quality and relevance. It then collates that events' data into a common format for users to consume.
The app is currently available on Android, iPhone, iPad and also on the web.
“Nearify offers a comprehensive list of events, which are not linked to sale of tickets and also offers it in a user friendly format. It aims to make the discovery part of events simple and fun so users have more time to enjoy the events,†said Vivek Srivastava, co-founder Nearify.
Currently, Nearify is focused on events discovery. In the near future, it also plans to introduce ticketing facility for paid events. The team is also working on creating an event promotion platform for organisers where they can preferentially list their events on Nearify for a nominal fee. However, all events will have to be approved by the Nearify team to be listed.
The startup also plans to open offices in the US and other countries next year.
Nearify mainly competes with Pune-based Explara (formerly Ayojak.com), which is backed by Harvard Business School (HBS) Alumni Angels, Srijan Capital and Blume Ventures.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)