[Funding alert] Celebrity engagement platform Unlu raises Rs 9 Cr in seed round led by Nexus

Celebrity engagement platform unlu on Monday announced it has raised a seed funding round of Rs 9 crore led by marquee venture capital firm Nexus Venture Partners with participation from Mumbai Angels, TiE, and Expert Dojo. 

Unlu, which has over one million users so far, focuses on celebrity engagements for consumers and brands with 2000+ celebrities on its platform. The Delhi-based startup plans to utilise the funding to build technological base, support product development, and fuel market expansion.

“We founded Unlu with a single minded focus to understand and exceed the expectations and needs of celebrities and fans, and are excited to see the results and path forward. We understand the needs of celebrities who have tight schedules but want increased engagement with fans and need a platform to share knowledge about the craft they have perfected. We aim to become the de-facto platform for celebrities,” said Vipul Agrawal, Co-founder, Unlu.

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Founded in 2020 by Vipul Agrawal, Himanshu Periwal, Akshay Pruthi, and Anurag Dalia, Unlu recently launched Unluclass - an edu-tainment platform, which will announce one celebrity every week. Presently live with Johnny Lever, Ruskin Bond, Manoj Bajpayee, and Shashank Khaitan, the company said consumers can look forward to Unluclass offering more top tier celebrities who have expertise in various fields like sports, music, acting, fashion, comedy, writing, lifestyle, photography, etc.

“Our vision is to use technology to significantly enhance the experience of celebrities with consumers and brands in a win-win manner for all stakeholders. Our product allows users to engage with the likes of Manoj Bajpayee, Guru Randhawa, Saina Nehwal, and 2,000+ celebrities in various formats,” added Himanshu Periwal, Co-founder, Unlu. 

Unlu also claims to have a strong growth on B2B engagements with celebrities like Shaan, Salim-Sulaiman, and Harbhajan Singh to engage with brands such as Flipkart, MPL, and Dr. Vaidya.

Nexus has been a pioneer of investing in technology-led businesses for India. Some of its portfolio companies include Unacademy, Delhivery, Snapdeal, Turtlemint, WhiteHat Jr, ZoloStays, Rapido Bike Taxi, PaySense, Pratilipi, etc.