Indic Boost: Pratilipi raises $4.3mn in Series A led by Omidyar, existing investors

Bangalore-based self-publishing platform Pratilipi has raised USD 4.3 million in Series A round of funding led by Omidyar Network with participation from existing investors, Nexus Venture Partners, Contrarian Capital and others.

The funds will be used to expand and strengthen the existing team in the areas of product, technology, and data science, growth, and partnerships.

The company was founded in 2015 by five co-founders, Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, Rahul Ranjan, Sahradayi Modi, Prashant Gupta and Ranjeet Pratap Singh.

"We started Pratilipi with a vision that language should not be a barrier for people to share their stories with each other. We are really happy and proud that we have been able to find investors who understand the problem we are tackling and believe in the power of stories to connect us together," said Ranjeet Pratap Singh, co-founder, and CEO, Pratilipi.

The company had previously raised USD 1 million in its seed round in February 2016 led by Nexus Venture Partners.

"Pratilipi has demonstrated steep growth to become the largest destination platform for long format vernacular writing and reading catering to the needs of millions of Indian language internet users. Their success would be crucial in the creation of an engaged community of millions of readers and hundreds of thousands of vernacular writers," said Siddharth Nautiyal, Investment Partner, Omidyar Network.