Mitron TV Pvt. Ltd, which operates an eponymous social video platform, has raised $5 million (Rs 37.41 crore at current exchange rates) in a Series A funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners.
Other participants in the round include 3one4 Capital, the early-stage firm set up by Pranav Pai and Siddharth Pai, and a private LetsVenture syndicate led by Arun Tadanki, Bengaluru-based Mitron said in a statement.
Several angel investors also participated in this funding exercise. These include MakeMyTrip chairperson Deep Kalra, Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau, Jupiter founder Jiten Gupta, Spotify India managing director Amarjit Batra, former Facebook and Snapdeal executive Anand Chandrasekaran and Google Cloud India MD Karan Bajwa.
Shopclues co-founder Radhika Ghai, GoIbibo co-founder Vikalp Sahni, LetsVenture co-founder Shanti Mohan, PremjiInvest’s TK Kurien, and Smile Group’s Manish Vij and Harish Bahl also took part in the funding round.
Mitron was founded earlier this year by Shivank Agarwal and Ankit Khandelwal. Last month, Mitron raised Rs 2 crore in seed funding. 3one4 Capital and the Tadanki-led LetsVenture syndicate were some of the investors.
The company says it will use the capital it has raised to accelerate product development as well as increase product engagement and acquire talent. It is also looking to bring on board content creators and build its brand.
“We are committed to building Mitron as a world-class product that is designed for Indian users, by reimagining digital entertainment and engagement,” Agarwal said.
Mitron says its app has so far been downloaded over 33 million times on the Google Play Store, and that videos on its platform are seeing 9 billion views per month.
Mitron is among the startups seeking to fill the void left by a ban on Chinese applications by the Indian government. It is similar to TikTok, one of the most popular apps in India prior to the ban which reported nearly $3 billion in global net profit on $17 billion in revenues last year.
Other startups in this space that have raised funding in recent months include Trell, which earlier this week said it raised around Rs 85 crore in Series A funding led by South Korea’s KTB Network.
Also this month, Chingari raised around Rs 9.7 crore in seed funding round led by AngelList India, with participation from Utsav Somani’s iSeed, Village Global, LogX Ventures and NowFloats co-founder Jasminder Singh Gulati.
