Flickstree raises $5M in Pre-Series B funding round led by Venture Catalysts

Flickstree, a content and marketing technology startup, has secured investment led by Venture Catalysts Group in its pre-series B round of funding.

Founded in 2016 by Saurabh Singh, Rahul Jain, and Nagendra Sandra, Flickstree is a curated and personalised video platform for free-to-watch videos. The content led video commerce platform enables transactions for their brand partners, leveraging in house video content, created using patented AI.

The platform uses AI voiceover, AI script, and auto-generates branded video content. These videos are distributed through its own apps and websites such as PlusYou Club and a network of more than 150 publisher partners. Flickstree currently has an active client base in India, Middle East, South-East Asia, the UK, Australia, and the USA.

According to a statement released by Flickstree, the company plans to utilise for global expansion, along with strengthening its product and technology.

Commenting on the investment, Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder, Venture Catalysts said, “Flickstree uses the power of Artificial Intelligence to create the most compelling branded video content at scale, at no-cost for brands. Moreover, they use their data engine to promote these videos that keeps churning transactions on an auto-pilot mode. In sum, Brands get videos at no cost and consumers love watching these videos and buy their products and services. This makes it a win-win platform for all brands globally.”

"Content driven ecommerce is the fastest growing segment of online sales across Asia," said William Bao Bean Managing Director Orbit Startups and General Partner SOSV "Flickstree is the leader in India and now positioned to expand across the region helping brands to leverage video to drive sales." 

Flickstree works in a plug-and-play model. With a team that specialises in the fields of branding, sales and distribution, digital marketing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence technology, the company claims to cater to over 200 brands worldwide, driving transactions over $50 million annually and boasts an active user base of 25 million on its platform.

On securing funds in the pre-series B round, Saurabh Singh, CEO of Flickstree, said, “Consumers love watching video content before making transactions. That’s why content-led commerce is the future of ecommerce. Flickstree’s AI creates great content that consumers love to watch and transact, making this a cutting-edge platform to partner with, for all ecommerce brands worldwide.”

The startup was backed by cricketing legend Sourav Ganguly in 2017, making his foray into the startup world. It is also backed many others including by Samsung Ventures, Orbit Startups (SOSV), LionRock Capital, FULD & Co., Lets Venture, AB Claymore, and Angelbay, amongst others.

(The story was updated to remove 9 Unicorns from the copy)