Social network for artists TouchTalent.com raises $700K in seed funding led by SAIF Partners

Delhi-based Talent Unlimited Online Services Pvt Ltd that runs Touchtalent.com, a social network for artists has raised $700,000 in seed funding led by SAIF Partners. Angels like Makemytrip's founder Deep Kalra; Flipkart's co-founders Sachin and Binny Bansal; Prashant Malik of Cassandra; Amit Ranjan of SlideShare and other investors also participated in the round through online fund-raising platform LetsVenture.

The funds will be used for increasing the team size, building the product as well as for geographic expansion.

Ankit Prasad, co-founder and CEO, TouchTalent.com, said, "The initial focus for us was to get decent traction while simultaneously creating an extraordinary user experience and engagement. With the fresh infusion of funds, we intend to judiciously build on the team, product and expand in other geographies."

Founded in July 2012 by Prasad, a student of IIT Delhi, the platform allows artists to display their creations and share them with like-minded people. Some of the categories on display include animation, calligraphy, comics, craft, design, digital art, fashion, graffiti, literature, music, painting, photography, poetry, singing and sculpting, among others. The company has also launched what it is calling the creative shop where any artist can sell his/her artwork.

The platform applauds ingenuity of individuals at a global level and provides visibility to creators beyond their immediate social circle without compromising on the ownership of the content.

"TouchTalent is an interesting concept of bringing all creative individuals together. The team has very well articulated the pain points of creators. There is a vast majority of creative people across the globe looking for such a solution. It is the next big thing emerging from India," mentioned Kalra. Mukul Singhal, principal, SAIF Partners, added, "The idea of participating in the journey of creating a global product out of India is what appealed to us."

With half a million monthly visits on web and downloads on Android platforms respectively, TouchTalent.com has recently expanded its vision of appreciating and monetising creativity at the global level. "The number of visitors is expected to grow to a million in the forthcoming quarter with each user visiting about 10 pages and spending an average of 5 minutes on the platform. We are growing at 30 per cent month-on-month," Prasad said.

"Everyday users from more than 100 countries visit TouchTalent.com to share their creative content in visual, textual audio and video formats. The community has about 50,000 content creators and three lakh registered users," he Prasad.

Venture capital and private equity firm SAIF Partners manages over $1 billion of investments in India. The fund had recently launched a seed initiative to fund early stage technology companies. SAIF Partners India has invested in large firms like Just Dial, Homeshop18, Firstcry.com, Makemytrip.com, PropTiger and One97 Communications.

This is the third venture that has raised funds through LetsVenture. Earlier, Frrole and Bluegape had raised funds through the platform.