Mumbai-based Urbane Media Enterprise Pvt Ltd, which runs hyperlocal social discovery platform Living Local has raised $200,000 (around Rs 1.3 crore) in seed funding from Rattan Chadha, former CEO of Mexx Europe Holding.
Indian-born Dutch businessman Chadha, whose full name is Kul Rattan Chadha, also runs Amex Investment Ltd whose dealings with the Oberoi Group figures in the Panama Papers expose.
The startup is looking to close its Series A funding within the next three months and is already in talks with investors, co-founder Anubhav Anand told VCCircle/Techcircle.in. The funds raised from Chadha will be used for expanding its operations, enhancing its online platform besides marketing the brand.
Living Local was started as a coffee table magazine in 2014 in Mumbai by Neeraj Vasudev and Anubhav Anand. In January this year, the web platform was launched, with the mobile app expected to be launched by the end of this month.
Living Local helps users discover and connect people within a small area to restaurants, night life options, street food and other activities. Users can enquire, recommend and connect with other users in their vicinity through Living Local.
Currently operational in four hyperlocal suburbs between Andheri West and Bandra West in Mumbai, Living Local hopes to expand to other Tier-I cities by the end of this year and is currently considering Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Pune for its next port of call.
“The proof of concept was figured out when we launched the hyper-local magazine Living Local, later we launched the web portal and saw 600 people within suburban Mumbai who were active on it, now we are focusing on designing and launching the app,†Neeraj Vasudev, co-founder of Living Local had told The Economic Times, which first reported the development.
The social discovery platform space is beginning to show traction in the urban metros, with investors backing a couple of startups in this space.
Last month, Delhi-based Giant Tech Labs Pvt Ltd, which runs social discovery app Shouut, raised $500,000 in seed funding from an undisclosed high networth individual.
In February 2016, GoYaNo, an online marketplace for discovering events and restaurant deals raised around $50,000 in seed funding from Carclubindia.com founder Mukesh Kumar Gupta.
Little Internet Pvt Ltd, which owns deals discovery app Little, recently raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pvt Ltd.
In November last year, Mumbai-based Yagerbomb Media Pvt Ltd, which operates nightlife discovery platform OUWT raised $150,000 from a group of undisclosed angel investors.