[Funding alert] Audio content creator and distributor Sochcast raises angel round from Vinners and HNIs

Bengaluru-based Sochcast Media has raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Vinners, Media maven Raj Nayak, Ex COO Viacom18, and Amritaanshu Agrawal, ED Mirabaud Group, Dubai.

The funding will be used to expand its original audio content library by setting up an integrated tech stack to help monetisation for content creators.

Sochcast is an immersive on-demand content hub for hosting, redistribution, and monetisation of audio. It is the first full stack audio suite that is powered with an adtech backend encouraging people to voice their 'soch', their 'thoughts' into a Sochcast.

Founded by Anil Srivatsa, Harvinderjit Singh Bhatia, and Garima Surana in in 2020, Sochcast has product offerings that enable on-the-go-content creation in every language, a monetisation marketplace, and LIVE interactions with a gamified experience. The startup is adapted to Indian languages with content from nine different languages.

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In a statement, co-founder Anil Srivatsa said,

“It's indeed a shot in the arm to have the confidence of such dynamic and experienced individual investors and members of the Vinners group who have endorsed our business to have the potential to succeed. Their experience and wisdom from their professional and personal domains will become the cornerstone of our “vinning” strategy.”   

Vinners (Value Investors Network) is a group of CXOs in India and abroad, which makes investments in early-stage companies. Beyond financial support, the members often provide mentorship and help open doors for investee companies by leveraging their personal networks. 

Vinners led this round and this investment would be its 16th investment.  

Gaurav Gupta, MD and CEO, Adani Capital, led this round from Vinners side along with Rahul Welde (EVP Unilever), Vishal Dhawan (MD, International Business Suhail Bhawan Group, Oman) and others.

“We are thrilled to be associated with the fastest growing home grown audio platform. As a company, Sochcast’s product-first approach has represented significant growth, and we are excited about this round. Audio is the way forward and Sochcast’s full stack audio suite will be a game changer for the creator economy too,” said Gaurav on the investment.

Amritaanshu Agrawal added,

“As per PwC, India is the third largest consumer of podcasts with approximately 58 million monthly listeners, which is a very small fraction of the total population. With the pandemic and overdose of OTT platforms, India has already seen a massive rise of approximately 30 percent in podcast consumption (as per KPMG Report) during the pandemic. Seeing the rapid growth in the industry, Sochcast is perfectly poised to benefit from the same and be a market leader.”

Rohit Jain, Partner, and Jalaj Mahajan, Associate, Singhania & Co advised on the transaction.