VerSe Innovation, India's leading local language technology platform, announced on March 10 that it has acquired Vebbler, an interest-based community-focused photo and video sharing app launched by Sahil Bhagat.
This is the second acquisition in two weeks for VerSe Innovation, which recently acquired AI-startup Cognirel Technologies.
With the acquisition of Vebbler, the company which recently emerged as "India’s first tech unicorn for local languages", advances in its mission to "build the largest digital media platform", it said in an official release.
“The combination of Vebbler’s product capabilities with our platform will improve our ability to drive innovation around the camera and social engagement and play a more meaningful role in capturing the mindshare, timeshare, and revenue share of Bharat’s local language users," said the joint statement issued by VerSe Innovation Founder Virendra Gupta and Co-Founder Umang Bedi.
"We have every intent to make good on our investor and consumer confidence and will continue to build and acquire powerful tools and technologies that deliver products which are consumer-focused and content-forward," they added.
Vebbler lets people join groups called ‘clubs’ and share photos and videos around different interests including fashion, travel, photography and entertainment, among others.
With over 100-plus categories, users create content using Vebbler’s camera, packed with superior creation tools such as AI-based neural-art filters, effects, stickers, GIFs, drawing tools and fonts along with proprietary technology on video processing and editing.
Leveraging Vebbler’s camera and community will give Josh a powerful differentiator in the market and present millions of Josh users the additional opportunity to harness India’s diverse creativity and talent, the press release stated.
"My vision with Vebbler was to build a video first social media platform out of India. Our use case, domain understanding, technology expertise is unique in the Indian market. In VerSe Innovation’s vision, we find strategic synergies between Josh and Vebbler," company's founder Sahil Bhagat said.
"This deal speaks volumes to the value and quality of our product. We are extremely excited to work together and inch closer to our shared vision of building a global product with Josh," he added.
Vebbler was backed initially by actors Dino Morea and Nikhil Chinapa. Originally, the app was designed as a private way to share photos and videos with friends in real-time at events, such as holidays, weddings and concerts, which then pivoted into an interest-based network in 2018.
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