Mobile marketing startup Skrilo gets $1.5 mn in seed funding

Gurgaon-based Skrilo India Pvt. Ltd, which operates a mobile marketing and rewards platform, has raised $1.5 million (Rs 10 crore) in seed funding from individual investors including Livspace co-founder Anuj Srivastava and AT Capital Group founder Arvind Tiku.

The company will use the funds mainly for marketing its reward programme and building its product pipeline, it said in a statement.

Skrilo also said that Anurag Gupta of WPP, Anurag Srivastava of Jungle Ventures and FMCG industry veteran Girish Patel has joined its advisory board.

The company offers a medium of marketing to companies, businesses and brands. It helps them engage with consumers through campaigns, content, coupons and deals. The brands get undivided attention from the consumers, who can benefit from various reward options.

Manish Sinha, founder and CEO of Skrilo, said digital advertising and mobile marketing are in a nascent stage but growing as smartphone usage jumps.

He said the existing mobile marketing solutions are intrusive and not readily acceptable by consumers. "Our platform engages consumers meaningfully in the mobile space," he said.

Srivastava of Livspace said reaching users on their phones in an unobtrusive way and driving engagement for a variety of marketing drivers without any biases is a hard problem to solve, especially when it's done on one platform.

The startup, which was founded last year, claims that its mobile app has recored about 250,000 downloads till date. The company plans to expand globally by the end of the year and is looking at Southeast Asia as the first port of call for its international expansion.

Sinha started Skrilo along with Gaurav Singh. An alumnus from Johns Hopkins University, Sinha has 15 years of experience as a management consultant and equity investment analyst working with McKinsey & Company, Oaktree Capital Management, Litespeed Management and Citigroup. He had also co-founded Singapore-based hedge fund Amoeba Capital.

Singh is a computer science engineer and has about 12 years of experience working with companies including Adobe Systems, Infosys, Computer Sciences Corporation and Sapient.

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