VerSe

VerSe Innovation is a technology company based in Bengaluru, India, that focuses on providing localized content for the Indian market through its AI-powered platforms. Founded in 2007 by Virendra Gupta, Umang Bedi, and Shailendra Sharma, the company initially operated as a B2B Value Added Services (VAS) provider for telecom companies, offering services like SMS alerts. A significant shift in its business strategy occurred in 2011 with the acquisition of Newshunt, a news aggregation platform, which was later rebranded as Dailyhunt in 2015. This move propelled VerSe into the consumer-facing digital content space, targeting the vast audience of non-English speaking, local language internet users in India.

The founders brought diverse and valuable experience to the firm. Virendra Gupta, an alumnus of IIT Bombay, had a background in telecom with companies like BPL Mobile and was instrumental in launching early value-added services in the country. Umang Bedi, a graduate of the University of Pune and Harvard Business School, held leadership positions at Facebook India and Adobe, where he focused on scaling digital businesses. This blend of telecom and digital media expertise shaped the company's trajectory.

VerSe Innovation operates on a business-to-consumer (B2C) model, with its revenue primarily generated from advertisements displayed across its applications. The company's two flagship products are Dailyhunt and Josh. Dailyhunt is a content and news aggregator that provides news and e-books in over 14 Indian languages, sourced from more than 3,000 content partners. The platform uses AI and machine learning to deliver personalized content feeds to its over 350 million users. In 2020, following the ban of TikTok in India, VerSe launched Josh, a short-video sharing app. Josh quickly gained traction, becoming a leading platform in India with over 150 million monthly active users by April 2022. It allows users to create and share short videos, participate in challenges, and consume content in 12 regional languages.

The company has achieved significant financial milestones, including becoming India's first tech unicorn focused on local languages and raising over $1.5 billion in one year. A major funding round in April 2022 raised $805 million, bringing the company's valuation to $5 billion. VerSe is focused on leveraging its proprietary AI technology to enhance user engagement and monetization through advertising, e-commerce, and live streaming. It has also launched an AI-powered AdTech engine, NexVerse.ai, and a creator marketplace, VerSe Collab, to drive future growth.

Keywords: content aggregation, short-video app, local language content, vernacular media, digital advertising, news aggregator, machine learning, content personalization, Dailyhunt, Josh app, Indian internet market, mobile content platform, AdTech, creator economy, influencer marketing, digital media, AI-powered content, user-generated content, B2C technology, content discovery