MUMBAI | MONDAY, 1 JULY 2019 1 START-UP CORNER 19 > Building content for Bharat Tapping into the Pratilipi, self-publishing FACTBOX gig economy platform in Indian FOUNDED: 2014 DEEPSEKHAR CHOUDHURY founder Aprameya Radhakrishna, languages, has few FUNDING: Freecharge founder Kunal Shah, former $20 million, including Roshan Kumar studies design at a college Flipkart executive Mekin Maheshwari, competitors so far but it $15 million Series B round in Delhi. He has shortlisted a few colleges and Slideshare founder Amit Ranjan. in Europe for an advanced course in prod- TapChief charges a service fee of 5-15 may not be for long, INVESTORS: Qiming uct design but they are expensive. So, per cent for each engagement, depending writes Patanjali Pahwa Venture Partners, Kumar is plying his skills for companies on the size and the type of a project. In Omidyar Network, Nexus on TapChief, which is helping him save the near future, the plan is to stick to it Venture Partners, and and also build a diverse portfolio of work. as the primary source of income. Co- early two years ago, Ranjeet Shunwei Capital TapChief was founded as an online founder Shashank Murali says that in Pratap Singh, founder and CEO advice platform by Arjun Krishna Vasisht, future potential revenue streams could TRACTION: Currently, N of self-publishing platform Vinay Krishna Shivam and Shashank be ‘pro’ or advanced versions of business Pratilipi, was handed a report. It was a users spend almost 33 Murali in 2016 when they were still stu- processes, such as recruiting, invoicing, Google Analytics snapshot, which gave minutes a day reading dents at BITS Pilani. People could seek tax assistance, which are now supplied him an overview of the platform’s user 50 % users are women, advice from experts in various domains free of cost. base. It revealed over 50 per cent of the mostly in metro cities over a phone call. In time, the model was Chief executive officer Shashank user base were women in the age bracket found to be wanting Murali says that tech- of 18-30 and they lived primarily in metros. Most-read content are as it had flaws on the nology adoption in Everything in this report was unexpected. From left: Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Sahradayi Modi, Rahul Ranjan, Prashant Gupta, and usually in Hindi, Bengali, monetisation front. India is still low and To understand why it was unusual, Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, founders of Pratilipi and Malayalam TapChief then pivot- remains a challenge. let’s explain what Pratilipi does. ed into what it calls a Murali says TapChief Pratilipi deals primarily in Indian lan- ent. All of its Indian language peers cater launched in 2014. books but that is just a start. “The biggest 'full-stack future of picks up at the point guages — nothing is in English. The com- primarily for the audience in tier II, III and challenge when it comes to audio is dis- work platform' in LinkedIn leaves off pany encourages both well-known and IV citiies/towns. But for Pratilipi, it is dif- Concept covery. How do I know if it is good or not,” mid-2017. — helping two par- less-known writers to upload their e-books ferent — it bucks the trend. Pratilipi, he says, is actually trying to be a Singh says. The nature of work ties connect. Does he on Pratilipi. It then reaches out to readers In India, internet access slants towards one-stop shop for all regional language Every content on the platform is free is slowly changing. feel the Microsoft- and entices them to read some long-form men as 80 users are men. If the content is content, which starts from the classics to right now. “We don’t want to make money Many youngsters owned company fiction. These stories can be in any Indian not in English, the audience is probably modern fiction. “We want to encourage right now. Our funding means that we today prefer flexible may prey on his com- language. A reader gets through one story, outside metros. That’s not what’s happen- writers to express themselves on our plat- have a runway for almost a decade,” he work hours, pay that they can negotiate pany's model? Murali says it's unlikely — then another, then another and before ing in Pratilipi’s case. “It was not just sur- form,” Singh says. And then he asks them says. Right now, all he wants is to get user on a case-by-case basis and take off for a it would mean as large a pivot for he/she realises it, reading on Pratilipi prising to us but also to our investors. to share their stories via WhatsApp and data and understand it. holiday or a sabbatical without being LinkedIn as Zomato did when it became becomes part of his/her habit. Except for Omidyar Network because it Facebook to get readers on the platform. There are two possible ways Pratilipi hamstrung by the whims of superiors. a food delivery service from being a food Now, replace stories with memes and had also invested in DailyHunt and saw a Once they are in, Pratilipi works to keep could go. First, investors say, is a pay per According to the Deloitte Global discovery app. jokes and you’ll be looking at popular similar trend,” says Singh. them there. Currently, users spend almost chapter model and the other, which excites Millennial Survey 2019, 84 per cent of mil- TapChief’s list of clients already social media platform ShareChat. Replace Pratilipi has raised $20 million in the 33 minutes a day reading. Most of what Singh, is owning the copyright. “The lennials and 81 per cent of Gen Z’ers includes Fortune 500 companies like stories with news and you have DailyHunt. last four years with the latest coming via they read is long-form content with Hindi Indian version of Harry Potter will be writ- would consider joining the gig economy. Unilever, Deloitte and growth-stage start- Replace stories with 15-second cheesy Qiming Venture Partners, which led a $15- and Bengali being the most popular lan- ten on Pratilipi and I want the rights to it Recently, the Bengaluru-based com- ups like Redbus, UpGrad, and Dunzo. The video content and you get TikTok. million Series B round. Omidyar Network, guages, followed by Malayalam. and I want to sell it,” he says. Once he finds pany raised a funding of $650,000 from company has plans to expand to foreign Essentially, smart content with immense Nexus Venture Partners, Shunwei Capital The platform also allows readers to a big fish, people will pay him to read. over 50 investors, including Paytm, 500 markets. Over the next three-four years, potential to be viral and a customer base and others also participated. message each other and writers. But no “Even though Pratilipi is already the Startups, AngelList India, Stanford however, the aim is to enable a million that is uncomfortable in English — it is Pratilipi, founded by Singh, Sahradayi one needs to log in to read stories. market leader across eight Indian lan- Angels, and SucSeed Venture Partners, professionals to earn incomes of ~10 lakh the universe that Pratilipi exists in. Modi, Prashant Gupta (he is no longer with guages, there is a significant room for alongside marquee angels like Vokal a year. Even though Pratilipi, in concept, the start-up), Rahul Ranjan, and Road ahead growth. We are support them as they pur- exists in that shared universe, it is differ- Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, was Pratilipi is experimenting with audio sue aggressive user growth targets over the next few years,” says Siddharth > BS SUDOKU # 2776 Nautiyal, Investment Partner, Omidyar EXPERT Pratilipi helps discover unread literature internet not only due to falling Network India. Very Easy: TAKE data prices but also consistent Things have been easy so far because « Pratilipi is targeting a specific kind reading and reading in your own power supply, which means the rivals are few and far between. Singh says Solution SOLUTION TO #2775 tomorrow of audience and this audience is language is easier. And this is not phones could be charged all the that challengers will come sooner than large. It is collecting a lot of just language, it is also culture. time. This has created an later. He lists Amazon, Tencent and Jio HOW TO content and a lot of its content is Most English content is written opportunity which Pratilipi is among those which will fight with him PLAY high-quality, visibly timeless from a Western point of view and taking advantage of. It is not for mind space. “They will either be chal- Fill in the grid literature. India has lost an people can’t relate to it. There is so monetising right now but can use lengers or investors,” he says. so that every opportunity in terms of reading. much literature that is unread by different models, either pay per Currently, Amazon is the biggest rival. row, every Indian youth were trained to today’s youth who can discover chapter or per book, whenever it It is making inroads in tier II cities with e- ANAND LUNIA, column and Founding Partner, become engineers and take jobs that via Pratilipi. wants. And that’s where it will be commerce in Hindi and video-led content every 3x3 box India Quotient and not read. But it is changing. Over the last five years, people able to take advantage of the discovery. The next step will be to intro- contains the The audience is now turning to in tier II India have discovered the scale it is building. duce Kindle. Amazon has the entire digits 1 to 9 ecosystem set up.

Bank of India - Sawantwadi Branch : Sawantwadi, Sindhudurg. Phone : 02363-272473 Relationship beyond banking E-Mail : [email protected] APPENDIX - IV POSSESSION NOTICE [See Rule - 8(1)] Whereas, (For immovable property) The undersigned being the Authorised Officer of the Bank of India under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 and in exercise of the powers conferred under Sub-Section (12) of Section 13 read with Rule 8 of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002, issued a Demand Notice dated 04.06.2018 calling upon the Borrower Mr. Manoj Mahadev Rane & Mr. Arjun Chandrakant Sawant to repay Rs. 15,56,647.76 (Fifteen Lac Fifty Six Thousand Six Hundred Fourty Seven & Seventy Six Paisa only) and further interest thereon within 60 days from the date of the said Notice. The borrower having failed to repay the amount, Notice is hereby given to the Borrower and the public in general that the undersigned has taken physical possession of the immovable property owned by Mr. Manoj Mahadev Rane described herein below in exercise of powers conferred on him under Sub-section (1) of Section 14 of Act read with Rule 8 of the Security Interest Enforcement Rule, 2002 on this the 28th day of June of the year 2019. The borrower in particular and the public in general is hereby cautioned not to deal with the immovable property and any dealings with the immovable property will be subject to the charge of Bank of India, Sawantwadi Branch for an amount of Rs. 15,56,647.76 (Fifteen Lac Fifty Six Thousand Six Hundred Fourty Seven & Seventy Six Paisa only) and further interest thereon from 30.04.2018. The Borrower's attention is invited to provisions of Sub-Section (8) of Section 13 of the Act, in respect of time available, to redeem the secured assets. DESCRIPTION OF THE IMMOVABLE PROPERTY Survey No. 96, Hissa No. 9, House No. 1151 (Adm 520.00 Sq. Mt.) At Post Majgaon, Tambalgothan, Tal - Sawantwadi, Dist. - Sindhudurg - 416510, property owned by Mr. Manoj Mahadev Rane. Sd/- Date : 28.06.2019 Authorised Officer Place : Majgaon, Tambalgothan, Tal. Sawantwadi Bank of India