Saama Capital backs media startup Homescreen Network in Series A round

Homescreen Network, a multilingual media production startup, said on Monday that it has raised $2 million (around Rs 14 crore at the current exchange rate) in Series A funding from venture capital firm Saama Capital.

The startup said in a statement that it will use the fresh capital to build a scalable content platform to cater to a growing audience of native-language speakers.

“We aim to use the funds to strengthen our content delivery platform and introduce more new languages in the coming year,” said Soum Paul, co-founder and chief executive officer of Homescreen Network.

Homescreen Network is promoted by venture-building platform GrowthStory which has backed several other consumer internet companies such as BigBasket, Portea Medical, FreshMenu, HomeLane and Bluestone.

Founded last year by Paul and TV Mahalingam, Homescreen Network uses a combination of internally-generated material and content generated on the ground through a large network of trained creators.

Homescreen Network said that it taps its proprietary mix of deep analytics and technology to generate custom-made content for relevant regional audiences across India through its platforms SparkTV (for regional audiences) and TheBigScope.

The platform is akin to a mini-TV channel and offers content related to world events, factoids, history, lifestyle, music, food, performance, and beauty.

It is currently available in five languages -- Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Kannada and English and distributed through partner platforms such as JioNews, DailyHunt, Sharechat, and SonyLIV.

Homescreen Network claims to have recorded more than 17 million video views across various platforms in April alone and the app has notched up over 500,000 downloads in two months on the Google Play Store.

Deals in the segment

May 2019: Vernacular hyperlocal news platform PublicVibe raised an undisclosed sum in a funding round led by the Indian Angel Network. 

May 2019: Mumbai-based mobile games developer Nazara Technologies Ltd invested in vernacular social contests platform Bakbuck. 

March 2019: Local language and news aggregator DailyHunt raised $173 million in a round led by New York-based investment bank Goldman Sachs’s hedge fund.