Exclusive: Actor Farhan Akhtar-backed film discovery app Flickbay gets seed funding

Film discovery app Flickbay, backed by actor and movie director Farhan Akhtar, has raised $890,000 (about Rs 6 crore) in seed funding from Paul Roy, chairman of Dubai-based Riva Digital.

Flickbay, run by Picdot Pte. Ltd, was founded last year by Trishant Sidhwani and Vishal Ramchandani. It has been incubated under Excel Entertainment, a movie production house founded by Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. Trishant previously worked at Excel while Ramchandani is the head of marketing at the company.

Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani are stakeholders in the startup while Jayesh Parekh, managing partner at Jungle Ventures and co-founder of Sony Entertainment in India, is an adviser and investor.

The platform provides news, trailers, songs, reviews, ratings, box office collections and information about movies playing in theatres and on TV. It claims to have recorded 70,000 downloads since its launch two weeks ago.

"We plan to use the data generated from the app to help filmmakers make better, data-driven decisions," said Trishant.

"Based on user data and feedback, we will build on existing features and introduce newer ones. Upon hitting a critical mass of users, we will open up the app for user-generated content and build a community around Bollywood," he added.

In a similar segment, curated movie-on-demand platform Muvizz.com has previously raised funding.

Many celebrities from the film industry are entering the startup ecosystem, either as an investor or as an entrepreneur.

Last week, actor and television host Rannvijay Singh invested in fashion styling app IStyleYou. Actor and activist Gul Panag has launched a fitness-centered mobile app Mobiefit.

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