Trell raises $2 million seed round from Fosun RZ, KTBN Venture

Visual blogging app Trell, owned and operated by Bengaluru-headquartered Trell Experiences, has raised $2 million from Ruizheng Investment (BVI), the British Virgin Island registered investment entity of Fosun RZ Capital and KTBN Venture.

The extended seed round also saw participation from returning investors Beenext2, WEH Ventures I, Sprout Venture Partners and other angel investors, according to the company’s latest regulatory filings. Tej Kapoor, managing director and head of Fosun RZ Capital India, also invested in the company in his individual capacity, the filings showed.

Earlier, the company raised $300,000 in debt from existing investor Beenext in November.

The latest funding round was first reported by Inc42 which said that the tranche was part of a total of $4 million being raised by the company, the remainder of which will be issued by Sequoia Capital India. Trell was a part of the second cohort of Sequoia’s 16-week accelerator programme Surge, announced in October.

Trell was founded in 2016 by IIT Bombay alumni Pulkit Agrawal, Prashant Sachan, Arun Lodhi; National Institute of Industrial Engineering alumnus Bimal Kartheek Rebba, and alumnus of New Jersey Institute of Technology, Nirav Sheth, as a travel video blog platform. Sheth left Trell in 2018 and the company has since pivoted to user generated content platform across lifestyle, fashion, beauty, movies and TV series, recipes, travel and personal care.

The app claims to have over 4 million content creators and over 2 million monthly active user base on its LinkedIn Page.

Trell competes with user generated vernacular blog Tripoto which raised $3.6 million in a Series B round from Chiratae Ventures, 3ONE4 Capital, Orchid India and Lasmer NV Tripoto has also added short video and influencer-driven commerce to its products as part of its expansion, apart from hotel and holiday booking. Woovly, founded by former QuessCorp executives and backed by Duane Park operates in a similar space.