[Funding alert] Lucknow mediatech startup Knocksense raises $200K in angel round

Knocksense, a Lucknow-based local content production startup, on Thursday said it raised $200,000 in an angel round of funding.

Mohit Satyanand’s syndicate on Let's Venture, We Founder Circle, and other marquee investors, including Neeraj Tyagi (Founder- We Founder Circle); Piyush Doshi (Director- Faering Capital); Tom Varkey (Partner at Stonehill Capital Management); Syed Faiz Hasan (Investor in Rooter); Mathew Varkey (serial investor); Simmarpal Singh (CEO India - COFCO International); Venus Dhuria (Partner, Veda.vc); and Amit Tyagi (serial investor), among others, also participated in this round.

Commenting on the fundraise, Varul Mayank, Co-founder of Knocksense, said, 

“Our aim is to create a truly local channel, which brings the unorganised local ad market from offline to online, and the pandemic has certainly helped the cause. The raised funds will help us penetrate deep in the markets we are active in, and launch our subscription plan, which will strengthen user engagement and brand integration.”

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"This fundraise is a sure-footed step towards the Knocksense vision, of a content network that is generated (hyper-) locally, and available nationally; that offers a brand-building platform for the neighbourhood salon, as much as for the global brand," said lead investor Mohit Satyanand. 

Founded in November 2016 by Whistling Woods alumnus Vibhore Mayank, and Amity University alumnus Varul Mayank, Knocksense generates 20 million+ organic impressions per month. Further, the media-tech startup plans to launch video stories, as well as Hindi content, while expanding to other Tier-II cities of India.

Knocksense plans to invest these funds in improving its IT infrastructure and strengthening its content team. 

"As a content producer, our focus will be on creating engaging content, which is a mix of local news, recommendations, videos, features, and more. When it comes to news, we are committed to producing only non-divisive stories, which don't breed negativity or sensationalism. Tier-II cities with an active millennial audience will be our target," said Vibhore Mayank, Co-founder of Knocksense.

Earlier, Knocksense had raised a seed funding from Neelansha Dwivedi (Ex-Hindustan Times and Apple); Amitesh Pandey (serial investor and entrepreneur), and a bridge round from Mumbai Angels Network in June 2020. The startup is present in six cities in India — Mumbai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Goa, Indore, and Jaipur.