Flickstree Productions Pvt. Ltd, which runs an artificial intelligence-based video publishing network, has raised $3 million (approximately Rs 21.64 crore at current exchange rates) in its Series A funding round.
The round was led by the Samsung Venture Investment, the funding arm of multinational conglomerate Samsung. Others that participated include LionRock Capital, Accretio Investments and angel investor LD Sharma, Flickstree said in a statement.
Existing backers Venture Catalysts and SOSV accelerator MOX also contributed to the round.
The Mumbai-based company will use the funds to develop the proprietary technology around its video content apart from expanding to other Southeast Asian markets. It also plans to enter the social and shopping video space to be able to open affiliate revenue streams for its partners.
“Not only does video content increases user engagement, but it also allows our publisher partners to earn more revenues without doing any additional effort,” Saurabh Singh, co-founder and CEO at Flickstree, said.
Delhi-based CENSIE Capital Partners advised Flickstree on the Series-A fundraise.
Separately, LionRock Capital founder and CEO Hari Kumar said the firm was confident in its investment because of Flickstree’s technology platform and content.
Flickstree was founded by Singh, Rahul Jain and Nagender Sangra in 2014. It offers curated and personalised free-to-watch videos on a single platform. The company says it currently has a user base of over 15 million, with publisher partners including Samsung, Xiaomi, Micromax, Karbonn Gionee and MX Player.
Its platform uses a self-learning engine to understand user context, predict user behaviour and suggest content that the user is likely to engage with.
In 2017, Flickstree raised Rs 3 crore (around $464,000) in a seed funding round led by Venture Catalysts. Former cricketer Sourav Ganguly, Kolkata-based Aditya Group's Anirban Aditya and Ankit Aditya, and Moksh Sports Ventures also participated in the round. Interestingly, the commitment to the Mumbai-based Flickstree marked Ganguly’s first such startup investment.
