Digital content platform Knocksense gets a fresh cheque from Mumbai Angels

Knocksense Media Services, which owns and operates an eponymous digital content platform, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investor group Mumbai Angels Network.

The company did not disclose the round of funding.

The Lucknow headquartered company will deploy the fresh funds to strengthen its technology platform and expand into new geographies, according to a statement.

"Raising funds through Mumbai Angels (MA)  during Covid - 19 has given us confidence and has validated our position to be India’s only non-political, non-divisive news platform. We thank Syed Faiz, Amitesh, Navin, Ankur and the entire Mumbai Angels team for the seamless process,” said Vibhore Mayank, founder, Knocksense.

Knocksense, founded in 2016 by Mayank, offers content on cities and about travel, food, technology, and lifestyle among others.

Before founding Koncksense, Mayank served as content creator at Hindustan Times and social media curator at Trendsetterz.

In September 2018, Knocksense bagged an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round from Amitesh Pandey, founder and chief executive officer at VBS Infravision. Prior to that, Knocksense raised $10,827 in an undisclosed funding round from Neelansha Dwivedi, in 2017. 

“I invested in Knocksense in the seed round in 2018, since then I've seen the company grow more than 10 times both in terms of revenue and traction," said Amitesh Pandey, MA investor.

The company has a presence in six cities in India, which include Mumbai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Goa, Indore, and Jaipur. 

Knocksense competes with Recount Media, Brut, AllSides, and The Outline, among others, in this segment.

Read: Is Stellaris-backed vernacular content platform Manch shutting shop?

“Knocksense is addressing local geographies within India with their local non-divisive news feed,” Nandini Mansinghka, co-promoter and CEO, Mumbai Angels Network, said.

Funding in content startups has been sparse in recent months. In February, Mumbai headquartered online content platform Pepper Content raised $306,183 in a seed round led by Titan Capital, an investment fund launched by Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, and online media company YourStory Media.

Last year in August, DailyHunt, the local language content and news aggregation platform raised $2.98 million (Rs 21.15 crore then) from Goldman Sachs. In June, native-language content and news platform Dailyhunt acquired LocalPlay, a Bengaluru-based peer which focuses on the hyperlocal segment, for an undisclosed amount.