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HEADFONE RAISES SEED FUNDING FROM FOSUN RZ CAPITAL AND AXILOR
Release Time: 2019-07-10
Bengaluru, 5 July 2019 –Bengaluru-based social audio platform Headfone (run by Diacoustic Labs Private Limited) has raised $750,000 seed funding led by Fosun RZ Capital. Headfone was part of Axilor’s 8th Accelerator Cohort, Winter 2018. With this round of funding, the company will focus on building the team, improving its recommendation engine, scaling the community across India and aggressively growing its user base.
Founded in 2017, Headfone was started by ex-Facebook Software Engineers, Pratham Khandelwal and Yogesh Sharma. It is a social audio platform where anyone can record, share and listen to audios.
Headfone Co-founders (L to R), Yogesh Sharma and Pratham Khandelwal
Founded in 2017, Headfone was started by ex-Facebook Software Engineers, Pratham Khandelwal and Yogesh Sharma. It is a social audio platform where anyone can record, share and listen to audios.
Headfone Co-founders (L to R), Yogesh Sharma and Pratham Khandelwal
“As part of our daily routine, we spend a significant amount of time commuting, cooking, using computers or exercising. These are times when our eyes are busy or tired but ears are free to listen. We see a strong demand for audio content at such times. Since the next hundred million Indians coming online will be more comfortable with regional languages as opposed to English, we are building Headfone for easing access to vernacular audio content,” Pratham Khandelwal, CEO & Co-Founder, Headfone said.
The Headfone android app has more than half a million downloads and its daily active user spends around 50 minutes a day listening on the platform.
Yogesh Sharma, CTO & Co-Founder, Headfone has added, “Personalization has changed how we consume content on the internet, but audio is still missing the wave. Listeners from tier-2 or tier-3 cities love to listen to old literature, poetry or love stories in regional languages whereas a tier-1 listener would be more interested in business or finance podcasts. So, the ideal audio platform plays the match-maker between content & listeners.”
“Fosun RZ Capital has been investing in India since 2016 and continues to focus on start-ups leveraging new business models and technological innovations, with Headfone being an example.”
Wilson Jin, Chairman of Fosun RZ Capital, the VC arm of Fosun said, "Headfone is the top vernacular audio podcast platform in India. Compared to visual content, audio content provides more opportunities to connect with the users. Besides, it is able to actively link users to fragmented scenarios, providing broader use cases. In addition, similar to Chinese audio market, audio platforms have great development prospects in India, which is why we are optimistic about Headfone.”
Krishna Vinjamuri, Executive Director at Fosun RZ Capital, said, “With improved internet access, the audio market is expected to grow very large in India as well. The Headfone team has a strong focus on product and personalization. The consumers love Headfone and it showcases in their ratings and retention. This helped them grow pretty fast organically.”
The Headfone android app has more than half a million downloads and its daily active user spends around 50 minutes a day listening on the platform.
Yogesh Sharma, CTO & Co-Founder, Headfone has added, “Personalization has changed how we consume content on the internet, but audio is still missing the wave. Listeners from tier-2 or tier-3 cities love to listen to old literature, poetry or love stories in regional languages whereas a tier-1 listener would be more interested in business or finance podcasts. So, the ideal audio platform plays the match-maker between content & listeners.”
“Fosun RZ Capital has been investing in India since 2016 and continues to focus on start-ups leveraging new business models and technological innovations, with Headfone being an example.”
Wilson Jin, Chairman of Fosun RZ Capital, the VC arm of Fosun said, "Headfone is the top vernacular audio podcast platform in India. Compared to visual content, audio content provides more opportunities to connect with the users. Besides, it is able to actively link users to fragmented scenarios, providing broader use cases. In addition, similar to Chinese audio market, audio platforms have great development prospects in India, which is why we are optimistic about Headfone.”
Krishna Vinjamuri, Executive Director at Fosun RZ Capital, said, “With improved internet access, the audio market is expected to grow very large in India as well. The Headfone team has a strong focus on product and personalization. The consumers love Headfone and it showcases in their ratings and retention. This helped them grow pretty fast organically.”
