The Dailyhunt owner secured an investment of $425m from CPP Investments as part of the funding round
VerSe Innovation takes its valuation to $5bn following the latest funding round. (Credit: mohamed Hassan from Pixabay)
VerSe Innovation, an India-based local language technology company, has secured $805m in a Series J funding round to take its valuation to $5bn.
Established in 2007, the company has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven content platform. It operates the Dailyhunt content and news aggregator app, the Josh short video app, and the PublicVibe hyperlocal video app.
VerSe Innovation is said to have a local language creator base of more than 50 million in India, with more than 80 billion video plays per month.
Its Series J round was led by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) with an investment of $425m. VerSe Innovation’s previous funding round was also led by CPP Investments with an equity investment of $375m.
CPP Investments managing director and private equity Asia head Frank Su said: “India’s digital content is experiencing phenomenal growth, and VerSe Innovation is well positioned to be one of the leaders in the fast-growing short video and local language content space.
“This investment aligns with our approach of providing strategic capital to industry leaders in India’s technology sector. We look forward to supporting the next phase of VerSe Innovation’s growth journey, which we believe will deliver strong risk-adjusted returns for the CPP Fund.”
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Sumeru Ventures, Luxor Capital, and others took part in the Series J round.
Existing investors Sofina Group, Baillie Gifford, and others were also part of the round.
VerSe Innovation is expected to use the proceeds from the latest funding round to consolidate its position in the local language content space in India. For this, the company plans to boost its capabilities in AI and machine learning and expand its offerings to include areas like live streaming and e-commerce.
VerSe Innovation founder Virendra Gupta said: “We are privileged and honoured to have prominent and stellar long-term partners like CPP Investments, Ontario Teachers’, Luxor Capital and Sumeru Ventures on board with us.
“This partnership will strengthen our ability and leadership to deliver on our vision to build the largest AI powered local language content platform across a family of apps serving the next billion users.”