Previously known as News In shorts and now as Inshorts is a Delhi-based company that provides news content for Android and iOS phones. The app includes news articles, blogs, and excerpts, across various topics such as tech and business, all in 60 words or less.
As of April 2019, the app received more than 10 million downloads. The startup is backed by Lee Fixel’s addition, Tiger Global, SIG, A91 Partners, and Tanglin Venture Partners. The news portal received $60 million in funding from Vy Capital and other existing investors.
The app was founded by three IIT dropouts, Azhar Iqubal, Deepit Purkayastha, and Anunay Arunav. It was first launched as a Facebook page in 2013 before it was shortlisted as one of Nasscom’s 10,000 Startups. The three founders also entered the Forbes 30 under 30 list and also received an award for the ‘Best Innovation App’ by the Internet and Mobile Association of India. It was developed at TLabs and raised funding in 2014 from Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, co-founders of Flipkart. Ankush Nijhawan, Gaurav Bhatnagar, Manish Dhingra, and Times Internet were some of the early founders.
It is the startup’s expansion to social media platforms that impacted their profit the most and brought high-profile investors.
The co-founder and Chief Executive of Inshorts, Azhar Iqubal confirmed the size of the round and lead investor but did not speak about the valuation. In addition, Tiger Global, SIG, A91, and Tanglin Venture Partners are Inshorts’ current investors.
“The world is changing every minute, and each one of us has an inherent desire to remain updated about these changes,” he said in a brief statement. “Both Inshorts app and Public app are aimed to help some of these people in their quest of keeping themselves informed and we are thrilled to have Vy Capital join us in our journey.”
The Public app which was launched two years ago has been seen as the fastest growing app in South Asian countries, with 60 million monthly users. The app uses the GPS in the user’s phone to link them with people in their surrounding areas. The app is available in several Indian languages, some of them being – Tamil, Malayalam, Odia, Telugu, Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Assamese, Marathi, etc. enables shop owners to drive e-commerce platforms.
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