Mumbai-based social networking platform VoxWeb Pvt. Ltd has raised $1 million (Rs 6.45 crore) in its third round of external funding from a clutch of unnamed individual investors.
According to the company, the new capital will be deployed to strengthen its backend technology infrastructure, besides adding innovative and engaging front-end features. It will also deploy a part of the money to scale up marketing efforts and increase its user base.
VoxWeb was founded in June 2014 by IIT Kanpur alumnus Yash Mishra, who had worked as an analyst with JP Morgan.
“With its unique voice-augmented photo technology, the company is focussed on designing and developing refreshingly new products to add a new dimension to social media consumption around the world. We believe the new round of funding will further hasten scaling up up of operations,†said Mishra.
In December 2015, the company had raised $350,000 from an unnamed investor. Subsequently, in August the same year, it had raised seed funding of $100,000 from CitrusPay co-founder Jitendra Gupta.
The flagship product of the company, speaking pictures, allows users to capture and share moments through photographs with voice-over options. At present, it is available both on iOS and Android platforms. It also facilitates creating selfies that can speak upon touching, called ‘Voxies’. The design patent for the same was filed in the US.
The company claims to have a user base of over half a million.
Other recent deals in the social networking segment include a Rs 1-crore fundraising effort by networking app Nodd last November. Former Just Dial Ltd chief technology officer Sandipan Chattopadhyay and IKYA Global associate partner Jaison Jose, among others were the investors.
The app-based networking platform helps individuals to discover and meet like-minded people through curated experiences, data analytics, experiences and algorithms.
November also saw social networking app Pulse, which enables users to stay connected with their college and school communities, raising $500,000 from venture and growth capital fund SAIF Partners.