Influencer marketing platform One Impression raises $10 mn from Krafton-led funding round

One Impression co-founders Jivesh Gupta (L) and Apaksh Gupta (R)

Influencer marketing platform One Impression announced on March 15 that it has raised $10 million in a Series A funding led by South Korean gaming giant Krafton, signifying a spike in investor interest in the burgeoning creator economy.

Prior to this, the startup had raised $1-million seed funding from angel investors such as Lenskart founder Peeyush Bansal, People Group CEO Anupam Mittal and celebrities such as Olympian Neeraj Chopra and Comedian Zakir Khan in January 2022.

One Impression plans to use the funds raised to grow its presence in international markets starting with Southeast Asia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) and invest in product development to expand its product offerings. The proceeds would also go towards the company's sales and marketing initiatives.

"Until now, our entire business was built in an organic way, so we haven't spent a single dollar on marketing till date. But now that our product has really matured, we will start investing aggressively in sales and marketing. We will expand our sales team to about 50-70 people," One Impression chief executive Apaksh Gupta told Moneycontrol.

Gupta said they will also look at acquiring smaller companies in the space, both in Indian and international markets, to expand to new markets. "We would rather prefer acquiring a smaller company and entering the market faster than having to build everything from ground zero," he said.

Founded by brothers duo Apaksh Gupta and Jivesh Gupta in 2018, One Impression offers brands access to relevant creators from over seven million creators across the world, ranging from top celebrities to nano influencers, to drive growth with influencer-led initiatives. The platform also helps brands with creator pricing, campaign delivery and real-time tracking of campaign performance.

The Gurugram-based startup aims to eventually build a full-stack influencer marketing platform that will help businesses plan and drive their influencer campaigns at scale. Gupta said they currently support YouTube and Instagram with plans to integrate platforms such as LinkedIn in the future.

"We believe that technology will bring the next phase of growth for the creator ecosystem. The ecosystem lacks a structured platform and our products will enable speed, scale, science, and reliability for all stakeholders in the industry," Gupta said.

The platform claims that it transacts with tens of thousands of creators ranging from top celebrities to nano influencers generating over 100,000 content pieces for more than 500 brands in over 10 languages. Some of the brands include Unilever, Amazon, Meesho, Myntra, Mamaearth, Zomato, and Cetaphil. One Impression aims to reach $40 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by 2024, it said in a statement.

Phyllo, a startup that is building a data gateway to access creator data directly from multiple platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, had also raised $15 million in Series A funding led by RTP Global in August 2022. Meanwhile, digital entertainment and technology firm JetSynthesys had acquired a majority stake in Fanory, a creator monetisation startup co-founded by former Twitter India head Manish Maheshwari in January 2022.

"The creator ecosystem is at the cusp of a revolution. It holds massive untapped potential, and we believe that One Impression is rightly positioned to be a global leader of the influencer industry. One Impression has an ambitious vision for the space, and we are delighted to support them in their journey" said Krafton India chief executive Sean Hyunil Sohn.

Krafton, the maker of popular games such as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) and its India version called Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), has pumped in around $100 million in Indian startups since 2021.

Its investments include mobile game development studios Nautilus Mobile and Lila Games, game streaming platform Loco, esports firm Nodwin Gaming, Indian language storytelling platform Pratilipi, audio content platform Kuku FM and audio romance and friend discovery startup FRND.

That said, this is the company's first fresh investment in an Indian startup after facing a setback in India last year, with BGMI pulled out of Google Play Store and Apple App Store in July 2022, following an interim government order.