DailyHunt raises $6 Million from Goldman Sachs as a part of Series E round

Bengaluru based news aggregator DailyHunt raised $6 million (INR 42 Crore) from Goldman Sachs investment partners.

Bengaluru based news aggregator “DailyHunt” run by Ver Se innovations Pvt. Ltd. raised $6 million (INR 42 Crore) from Goldman Sachs investment partners, which is a venture capital arm of New York-based investment bank Goldman Sach. The funding will be a part of Series E Round.

Earlier in 2015, it raised INR 250 Crore in Series C funding led by Falcon Edge Capital. In 2016, it raised INR 168 Crore in Series D funding round from Chinese content provider ByteDance.

DailyHunt was launched in 2009 by former Nokia Executive Umesh Kulkarni and Chandrashekhar Sohoni. It was formerly known as “NewsHunt” and was rebranded as “DailyHunt” in August 2015. It has 80 million users who spend 6 Billion minutes on the platform each month.



DailyHunt is available in 14 languages including English, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Gujarati. It provides original video content in Hindi and Telugu. It also provides free live TV stream service with more than 130 channels across 9 languages.

Major competitors of DailyHunt are UCNews, IShorts, NewsDog, Viralshorts. It’s latest offering is Newzly, a news excerpt mobile application that provides users with customized trending headlines in 9 languages.





Five things every investor looks for in a startup

Here are a few things investors seek in start-ups while taking the decision of investing.

For an investor, it is important to know what he’s getting into while taking a decision of investing in a company. No one wants to invest in a business which isn’t profitable and viable in the future.

Here are a few things investors seek in start-ups while taking the decision of investing:

A strong team

An investor looks at a start-up as a team which works together and not as a one-man show. The management team’s capabilities and history is very crucial for an investor because it helps him assess what the team is capable of doing in the future.

You might portray a very colourful image of your team but if an investor can break through the rosy portrayal and see the rifts and lack of unity in the team, he might not invest in your start-up even though he liked the idea.

Hence, it is crucial to have a strong founding team in which everyone is sure about their roles and responsibilities.

Related Post: How to form the right startup team

The business plan

The investor doesn’t know everything about your business so you need to let him know about the most important things like the break-even point, financial plan and the marketing and sales plan through your business plan. Because your business plan is a major factor the investor judges you upon, make sure it is made properly and consists of all relevant and required details.

Also, try charting milestones so that an investor has a better idea of your business.

Related Post: All you ever wanted to know about a business plan



Company’s uniqueness

If your idea is the same as the one being offered in the market, an investor will not be interested in investing in your business. He is looking for a unique idea which will appeal to the customers and give him enough profits. VCs often look for competitive advantage and propriety features over the financial structure.

For instance, the most unique ideas are often sponsored in Shark Tank over ideas which are done and dusted with already.

Related Post: Meeting with Investors – Before, During and After

Effective long-term Business Model

A start-up might be doing extremely well in the initial stages and making profits but what is important to judge is whether the business will survive in the future as well. A number of companies are closing down due to mismanagement of finances, low sales, no profits etc.

Amidst cut-throat competition, all an investor wants to know is if your business is likely to withstand the test of time and continue doing well in the future.

Related Post: 7 ways to build a successful startup revenue model

Growth potential

It isn’t enough to be a sustainable business; the company must also have growth potential because no one wants to invest in a company which is standard and stagnant in terms of profits. Your company should be able to growth at a fast pace and introduce new products and services to the mix and attract more markets in a short time. A potential market size is a great way of determining the potential growth rate in the future.





These angel investors could help you make your idea bigger

Here are a few angel investors who might be interested in financing your idea.

Setting up your own venture requires capital and Venture Capitalists are not always supportive or appreciative of your idea which is why you can approach angel investors in India. We have got you a list of the most popular and sought after angel investors in the country.

Here are a few angel investors who might be interested in financing your idea:

Rajan Anandan

Rajan Anandan is the managing director of Google India and has been financing projects since 2006. He invests mostly in projects which are e-commerce or cloud-based.

Sanjay Mehta

He is a very active member of the popular angel investment groups like India Angel Network, Mumbai Angels and Venture Nursery. Till now, he has invested in almost 50 start-ups which mostly deal with big data and consumer services.

Related Post: Meeting with Investors – Before, During and After

Zishaan Hayath

He started his series of angel investments with Ola, a cab-booking service. He also founded the Powai Lake Ventures and has funded more than 30 ventures till now.



Sunil Kalra

He is the founding member of University of Petroleum and Energy Sciences, Dehradun and an active member of India Angel Network. His affair with funding start-ups began way back in 2002 and he has financed more than 50 ventures till now.

TV Mohandas Pal

The ex CFO of Infosys is currently an active angel investor who has made almost 40 investments in ideas so far. He is also the chairman of Manipal Global Services which manages the Manipal campuses in Malaysia, Dubai and Nepal.

Related Post: 4 Qualities angel investors want to see in startups

Rehan Khan

He is the founder of Orios Venture Partners which is an investment agency and has made over 20 investments so far. The areas Khan makes most investments in are mobile technology and e-commerce.

Sharad Sharma

He was formerly heading the R&D sector of Yahoo India and founded the think tank called iSPIRIT. He makes his investments if he thinks an idea is attractive enough to capture the software industry.

We hope this makes your process of finding an angel investor easier!