VC-backed social media marketing and analytics startup Salorix shuts up shop

Bangalore- and US-based Salorix Inc, a VC-backed social media marketing and analytics solutions company, has shut operations as it failed to raise fresh capital following a feud between its founder and investors. The difference of opinion related to the buyout offer by tech giant Google, according to a report in The Economic Times, citing sources.

As per this report, Google approached Salorix twice over the past three years but the company's founder declined the offers citing them as unimpressive, even as the investors were in favour of a deal. As a result, the investors decided not to infuse fresh capital, leading to a closure.

Salorix's founder and CEO Santanu Bhattacharya confirmed the shutdown to the publication but declined to provide details.

We have contacted Salorix's investors Nexus Venture Partners and Inventus Capital Partners for more details, and will update the story as we hear from them.

Although a number of VC-backed e-commerce firms have pulled the plug on their operations as they fail to sustain in the absence of fresh investment, this adds to the roster of other firms who have been forced to shut shop. A few weeks ago, VC-backed music streaming site Dhingana shut down. Interestingly, Dhingana also counted Inventus as an investor besides Helion Venture Partners and Lightspeed.

Salorix was founded in 2009 by Bhattacharya, a management veteran who holds an MBA from MIT's Sloan School, a PhD in Physics from NASA and a BTech from IIT Bombay. Earlier, he worked at AOL where he started and led the Analytics Center. Prior to that he was a management consultant at AT Kearney where he advised leading consumer brands including J&J, BMW, Gillette, Pepsi, and State Street Bank. Before this he played a key role in designing part of the Cassini space probe, which at the moment is orbiting Saturn.

Salorix worked with brands and media agencies to simplify and scale social media engagement. Its social marketing platform delivered influencer marketing and social campaign planning and execution, social insights and optimisation on a single platform supporting multiple social channels. The firm is headquartered in Silicon Valley, with offices in New York City and Bangalore. In November 2011, Inventus Capital and Nexus Venture Partners together invested $3.5 million in the company in Series A round of funding.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)