[Funding alert] Glance becomes India's newest unicorn; raises $145M from Google and Mithril Capital

Glance, a subsidiary of InMobi, becomes India's latest unicorn after raising a funding of $145 million from Google and existing investor Mithril Capital.

Glance will use the new funding to deepen its AI capability across Glance and Roposo, expand its technology team, launch services on the platform, further strengthen the brand, and drive expansion in global markets.

In a statement, Naveen Tewari, Founder and CEO of Glance and InMobi Group, said,

“Glance is reimagining the future of digital consumption on smartphones. We are absolutely thrilled to have Google as a strategic investor in Glance and Roposo (video sharing social media platform). With two of the largest digital content platforms in the country, we have taken the lead in making the digital economy accessible for the next billion users in India and globally.”

The platform leverages AI to personalise content in several Indian languages on the lock screen of Android smartphones. It claims to have more than 115 million daily active users who spend an average of 25 minutes on the platform per day.

On the other hand, Roposo claims to have 33 million monthly active users who spend an average of 20 minutes daily on the platform. The app has been recorded more than 100 million downloads on the Google Play Store.

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“Glance is a great example of innovation solving for mobile-first and mobile-only consumption, serving content across many of India’s local languages,” said Caesar Sengupta, VP of Google. 

He added that too many Indians have trouble finding content to read or services they can use confidently in their own language. 

"This significantly limits the value of the internet for them, particularly at a time like this when the internet is the lifeline of so many people. This investment underlines our strong belief in working with India’s innovative startups towards the shared goal of building a truly inclusive digital economy that will benefit everyone," said Caesar. 

Glance delivers trending content across entertainment, sports, fashion, news, and other content categories in a rich, visual format that is easy to consume with just a tap on the lock screen. It leverages its strategic partnership with Android smartphone brands to deliver this native user experience to consumers.

 “Glance, the world’s largest screen zero platform, is a powerful innovation to democratise content on the mobile Internet,” said Ajay Royan, Managing General Partner and Co-founder of Mithril Capital, “It has been fantastic working with the Glance leadership team in realising Glance’s global vision of breaking through technical and linguistic barriers to deliver frictionless and engaging experiences across cultures and languages.”