Excl: Radiowalla opens to public; Android, iPhone apps to be launched soon

Internet radio service Radiowalla, run by Radiowalla Network Pvt Ltd (earlier known as Venturenet Partners Pvt Ltd), has opened up its services for the public although it is in beta mode. Last we checked, it was out in public beta but the services were not fully functional.

We spoke to Anil Srivatsa, co-founder and CEO,  of Radiowalla Network, and learnt that it became operational just a week ago and already has around 6,000-7,000 users. As of now, people can sign in to use Radiowalla via Facebook and Twitter.

The site also says that Radiowalla is soon coming on Android and iPhone. According to Srivatsa, both apps will be available by the end of this month, following which the company will bring out Java apps.

"The Kiran Bedi show has already started and our other shows will start by the end of this month. On the music side, it is too early to comment but we are seeing good traction as far as Carnatic and Hindi classical music go," said Srivatsa.

The Bangalore-based startup is co-founded by Harvinderjit Bhatia and Anil Srivatsa, who is also the former CEO of Kings XI Punjab (one of the cricket teams of the Indian Premier League) and former COO of Radio Today Broadcasting (Meow 104.8 FM). Earlier this year, the company secured an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Ojas Ventures Partners. It also runs in-store radio channel under the brand SpotRadio.

In an earlier conversation, Srivatsa also stated that the company was looking for a second round of funding. But right now, his focus would be on building the product. However, if a good offer with a futuristic valuation comes its way, the company would definitely consider it.

The company had also launched Merispace.in, a closed social network where users can meet, connect, chat and share their experiences. It is branded as a Radiowalla network and there is a link to the site from the Internet radio portal. Earlier, it was not fully functional either but Srivatsa said that it is now open to public and has already garnered some 10,500 users. "The idea is to integrate Merispace with Radiowalla apps so that listeners don't need to use their Facebook accounts to use Radiowalla," he added.

Asked about future plans, he said that the company would be coming out with special interest channels and a news channel would be launched soon. It would also target the feature phone segment as plans are afoot to launch IVR-based services for all the content for which it has the rights.

"We are content creators and now we have built a platform as well. Next, we will offer our platform to other content creators. We would have at least 30 channels with in-house content and the number of partner channels could vary," Srivatsa signed off.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)