Bakkbenchers Network, a new-age digital media company for the smartphone generation founded by media professionals, Trishank Mukesh Goswami and Nayeem Tomar has raised INR 1 CR through ah! Ventures angel platform. This is ah! Ventures 59th investment taking its total investment portfolio to INR 181 CR with 9 exits till date.
Founded in March 2016, the Mumbai-based company uses the most advanced technology tools and data analytics to create highly engaging short, original, premium, personal and relatable vernacular video content for the smartphone generation. The company has already built a subscriber base of over 1.06 million across its online platforms called Bakkbenchers (short form content, sketches, web series). The company has seen nearly 410 million organic video views on the back of heavy social sharing and high retention rates across its channels, focusing on building on original content targeting the 18-35-year-old demographic across Tier 1,2 and Tier 3 cities and towns.
It currently reaches an audience of 120 million every week, with a large chunk of the traffic driven by social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Unlike the multi-channel networks (MCNs), which aggregate video and channels on YouTube, players like Bakkbenchers Network are building original content. The primary mode of monetization for Bakkbenchers Network is native advertising and content syndication and not revenue share with platforms unlike the MCNs. Bakkbenchers Network are not looking at platforms as their main source of revenues but ancillary revenues.
Bakkbenchers counts Kingfisher, Happn, Dailyhunt, Dainik Bhaskar, Viacom18, Amazon Prime, Alibaba, Hindustan Times, Wakefit, to name a few, among its clients.
“The key focus when starting this venture was to empower Indian writers! We felt that the content that is coming out via our films and on TV, didn’t reflect the writing prowess that India has. There is a lot of writing talent here but a few brands that empower this talent.
The other key moment was when we sat back and thought about the change in consumer behavior when it comes to content consumption and content discovery. We observed that people were discovering content via social and consuming it via their mobiles. This is when we thought we wanted to do something more disruptive. Also, with the rise of digitization and a decline in viewer’s attention spans, video consumption has changed. Digital video content consumption is the 2nd most popular activity of Indian internet user but there is limited availability of premium short, personal and relatable videos for people consuming content while travelling, office breaks or waiting for someone.” said Trishank Mukesh Goswami – Co-Founder, Bakkbenchers.
“Excess of content available on the internet which is cluttered making it difficult for users to view non-payable millennial focused quality content. We are on a mission to create quality data-driven content and cater to spending time, saving time and saving time opportunity. The Indian Digital Advertising is the only market which is increasing with the compound annual growth rate of 35-40%. This is the most exciting time for Media and Entertainment industry.” – said Nayeem Tomar- Co-Founder, Bakkbenchers.
“Bakkbenchers Network are creating content at a predictable and steady rate, with a much leaner team than their competitors. Their work has an authenticity and virality to it that only a few companies around the world can match. With its technology, they have created and distributed some of the best performing original digital content that has been nominated for Best Content in Asia” – said Vishal Goswami, Angel Investor.
Yash Mantri, Bakkbenchers Deal Lead and Venture Partner, ah! Ventures said, “Since video consumers in India (poised to reach 600 Mn by 2021), will be driven largely by the youth segment, they clearly understand the consumer behavior and have a top class team of mixed professionals from media and entertainment, technology and finance background. there’s a big door open for Bakkbenchers Network”.
Bakkbenchers Network is looking to utilize the funds to create exceptional content, talent expansion, marketing, build their technology platform and bolster their technology driven support system. They plan to grow their vernacular reach in India, specially the Hindi belt and build out other content channels and create over 12,100 short form content and live action videos; 5 web series properties and targeting over 1 billion views by next year.
They want to push boundaries by experimenting with unique content-based commerce models.
Founder Contact: Trishank Mukesh Goswami, trishankmukeshgoswami@bakkbenchers.com, +91-9833067151
About ah! Ventures
ah! Ventures is India’s only curated and the largest fundraising platform for early stage startups raising up to 10 MN USD. ah! Ventures has two platforms: angel platform, which helps startups raise upto 1 MN USD and high tables platform, which helps startups raised 1-10 MN USD. Today ah! angel and high tables platforms have over 62000+ startups, 2000+ seed/angel investors and over 1000 VCs & institutional investors registered with it. ah! angel and high tables platforms till date have invested close to INR 181 Cr (~ 26 MN USD) in over 44 startups and 59 investments and have announced 9 exits. ah! Ventures will be announcing 6 more investments totalling to about INR 70 CR (~10 MN USD) under both platforms in near future.
Founder contact: Abhijeet Kumar, abhijeet@ahventures.in