Lokal, a local news and classifieds platform hosting content in regional languages, has raised $3 million from 3one4 Capital, Y Combinator, RB Investments, SOMA Capital, and its existing investor India Quotient. The company was founded in 2018 by IIT Alumni, Jani Pasha and Vipul Chaudhary. Other participants of this funding round are Twitch Co-founder Kevin Lin; Xiaomi Indonesia Head Alvin Tse; Starling Ventures, US-based XRM Media, and tech investment firm I2BF Global Ventures.
It is understood that the fund will be used to improve the company’s product and expand to newer geographies. Lokal also plans to expand its team and strengthen its presence in the existing market. Presently the platform hosts local news, classified postings, job ads, matrimonial ads, weather information and other information in Hindi and Telugu. The platform delivers high quality contextual content, and has deep penetration and coverage at district level.
Lokal has more than three million downloads in 27 districts across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. Also the app has reached over 900-million non-English speaking users of India. Lokal wants to serve 700 million Indian users by 2022.
HrNxt.com Newsdesk has researchers and writers with an excellent domain knowledge about the talent ecosystem, and the business environment. The team keeps a tab on the latest happenings in the ecosystem to bring most relevant news and insights for our readers. You can connect with our newsdesk at newsdesk@hrnxt.com.