Josh Talks has raised $3.5 million in a round led by Ankur Capital, with participation from other notable investors including Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Vaibhav Domkundwar of Better Capital, Vineeta Singh of Sugar Cosmetics, Ritesh Agarwal of OYO, and Ankur Warikoo (ex Nearbuy).
Josh Talks, which was founded in 2015, has an average of 85 million monthly views across platforms and has forayed into interactive educational courses by launching the Josh Skills app, which has over 200,000 paid subscribers from Tier II and III cities in India, according to a statement from the company.
The new funds will be used to improve and scale Josh Skills, as well as to experiment with new product lines that cater to the aspirations of this user segment.
“In the last two years, we’ve doubled down on two things: expanding our distribution across 10 languages and developing a product to monetize this distribution network.” We were able to understand the aspirations of young India and have created one of the largest online communities, which has led to the development of our app, Josh Skills with 0 CAC. “Our goal with the new capital is to expand our offerings, strengthen our executive team, and bring Josh to every household in India,” said Supriya Paul, CEO & Co-founder, Josh Talks.
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Despite concerns that global headwinds could stymie the momentum, Indian startups raised more than $10 billion in the first three months of 2022. The average deal size at seed stage was $2.15 million in Q1 2022, up from $1.76 million in Q4 2021 and $1.49 million in Q1 2021. Series A rounds more than doubled to $20.3 million in Q1 2022, up from $10.75 million in Q4 2021.