Bengaluru, 13 October 2021: VerSe Innovation, India’s biggest local language technology platform, today announced the acquisition of GolBol, a made-in-India social networking app. VerSe that recently marked the first anniversary of its short-video app Josh will bring on board GolBol’s entire team including co-founders Shanu Vivek, Karandeep Singh Gujral and Kaushik Mahato to help accelerate the work being done to modernize and multiply the impact of Josh.
Shanu and the team are very well versed with the techniques that allow diverse users to socialize with digital content and will focus their efforts on enhancing Josh Cam – a powerful mobile video editing app designed exclusively for users and creators of the short-video ecosystem. The app with its intuitive and sleek multi-layer editing interface, allows short-video users to impart a professional touch to their content. The team will also drive efficiencies in AI & ML to build UGC discovery initiatives that have the power to detect quality content from a stream of several thousand videos and classify these videos at scale so that users on Josh enjoy the latest, most unique and authentic content experiences.
Speaking about the acquisition, Shailendra Sharma, SVP Product & Engineering at VerSe Innovation, said, “VerSe’s clear growth strategy for Josh grounded in an entrepreneurial mindset has motivated this alliance with some of India’s brightest minds and passionate innovators who understand how Bharat consumes, creates and engages with content. Not only does this power our commitment to build Bharat’s biggest digital platform that captures the mindshare, timeshare and revenue share of local language users. It also validates our culture of learning and mentorship, and our intent to build an entrepreneurship hub to nurture and accelerate the ideas of young entrepreneurs in India’s content-tech ecosystem.”
Excited to come on board, Shanu Vivek, CEO and Co-founder of GolBol, said, “GolBol was born from the simple idea to motivate local language users to share their lives online through an easy-to-use product. We had larger plans and wanted to solve for Bharat’s diverse content needs. The ambition and clarity of thought demonstrated by the leadership at Josh convinced us that this was the right fit. We are aligned with the company’s vision to deliver a family of apps for a Bharat audience and believe that where Josh gains from our experience, we have access to resources and world-class tech at Josh to create greater impact.”
This acquisition is in line with VerSe Innovation’s vision to build cutting-edge digital capabilities to serve Bharat’s unmet content needs, bookending the year that also saw its acquisition of AI-startup Cognirel Technologies and photo and video sharing app, Vebbler.
