VerSe Innovation, the parent firm of popular news aggregator Dailyhunt and short video app Josh, said on Thursday it has raised over $450 million in a new financing round, just five months after securing $200 million, as the Indian startup looks to expand its offerings to international markets.
Siguler Guff, Baillie Gifford, affiliates of Carlyle Asia Partners Growth II and others financed VerSe Innovation’s Series I round, while existing investors Sofina Group, Qatar Investment Authority and BCap participated.
VerSe Innovation said in a statement that its valuation has more than doubled in the past five months without disclosing a precise figure. The startup was valued at over $1 billion in its Series H financing round.
The Google and Microsoft-backed startup claimed that Josh, which has amassed over 115 million monthly active users, 56 million of whom use the app each day. Dailyhunt, the startup said, has amassed over 300 million monthly active users.
VerSe Innovation is betting on building a family of apps that serves users in scores of local languages. Dailyhunt, for instance, offers its content in 14 languages from over 100,000 content partners and creators.
This is a developing story. More to follow…
