Nikhil Patwardhan
Nikhil Patwardhan
Former Meta and Adobe executive Umang Bedi joined VerSe Innovation in 2018, later becoming a co-founder. Under his leadership, the company has grown into a $5 billion behemoth. Here, Bedi talks about why he’s bullish on India's subscription model, the future of local short video platforms, and more.
May 13, 2024
16 MINS READKey Takeaways
In December 2020, Dailyhunt's parent company secured a $100 million investment from a slew of marquee global investors, including tech giants Google and Microsoft. This injection of funds propelled the Bengaluru-headquartered company to a valuation of over a billion dollars, making it India’s 36th unicorn and one of the most valuable media tech companies globally.
However, what sparked conversations within startup circles wasn't just the billion-dollar valuation or the top investors. Rather, it was a significant personnel move. Umang Bedi, previously a key executive at Meta (formerly Facebook) India and South East Asia, who had joined Dailyhunt as president in 2018, was bestowed with the title of co-founder by company founder Virendra Gupta.
Such a late-stage elevation to co-founder status is unconventional in startup dynamics. Dailyhunt, founded in 2009, was one of India's earliest tech enterprises. However, Gupta, more popularly known as Viru, evidently saw value in appointing a seasoned former Facebook executive to spearhead his company's attempts to disrupt the local language content landscape.
VerSe, the parent company, had ventured into the short video platform arena with Josh earlier in 2020, hoping to fill the vacuum created by the Indian government’s ban on ByteDance-owned TikTok. However, it faced formidable competition from Meta's Instagram Reels, which also launched in India following the TikTok ban.
Fintech
Premium Reads
By Dr Srinath Sridharan
Food Delivery
the-crux
By Sohini Mitter
Funding winter
Premium Reads
By Nikhil Patwardhan
8 Min Read
By Dr Srinath Sridharan
9 Min Read
By Nikhil Patwardhan
9 Min Read
By Pranav Balakrishnan
16 Min Read
By Nikhil Patwardhan
11 Min Read
By Pranav Balakrishnan
9 Min Read
By Sohini Mitter