Google, Microsoft invest in DailyHunt for its short video platform Josh – making it the latest unicorn in India

• Google, Microsoft, and AlphaWave, a unit of Falcon Edge Capital, have invested over $100 million in DailyHunt’s parent company VerSe Innovation.
• The investment has come through for DailyHunt’s take on TikTok – the short video platform Josh.
• The company also plans to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to scale up Josh.

Google, Microsoft and AlphaWave, a Falcon Edge Capital unit, have invested over $100 million in DailyHunt’s parent company VerSe Innovation. With this, the company has crossed a valuation of over a billion dollars, making it the latest unicorn in India. The company claims to be “India’s first tech unicorn for local languages.”

The investment has come through for DailyHunt’s take on TikTok – the short video platform Josh. The news aggregator platform had launched Josh after the ban on TikTok in India, in 12 local Indian languages to capture the “Bharat” users, the term used for the next 200 million internet users in India.

Josh in numbers

With the latest investment, the company plans to run with the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative to empower content creators in India. “VerSe aims to underline and promote the rich heritage and culture of India, aggregating such content and delivering it to the masses,” said the company.

The company also plans to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to scale up Josh.

Interestingly, the vision of Josh fits right into Google’s investment strategy for India. During the Google for India event, where the global tech giant announced a $10 billion investment plan for India, the company’s CEO Sundar Pichai had said that one of the four areas where they will invest is in companies “enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language, whether it’s Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi or any other”.

DailyHunt, the content aggregation platform, counts Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India, Falcon Edge Capital, Goldman Sachs as its existing investors. DailyHunt has over 300 million users, offering them content in local languages.

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