So you are crazy about ‘Permanent Roommates’ or ‘Qtiyapa’ ? Well, creators of these insanely viral, literally game-changing webshows in India, The Viral Fever, have reportedly received a massive $10 Million (₹65.6 crore) in fresh backing from Tiger Global. The round went unpublicised and came up in the company’s recent RoC filings unearthed by LiveMint.
The investment was made in Contagious Online Media Network Pvt. Ltd, which was incorporated in July last year. According to the documents, Tiger Global has picked up close to 25% stake in the firm valuing it to the north of $40 Million (around ₹270 crore).
The Viral Fever, more popularly known as TVF, is the brainchild of IITian Arunabh Kumar who was later joined in by the likes of Amit Golani and Biswapati Sarkar. And while there isn’t much which I need to tell you about them, the brand has been responsible for creating shows like Qtiyapa; Barely Speaking with Arnub—a satirical take on Times Now’s ever-popular shouter Arnab Goswami and its original online series such as TVF Pitchers and Permanent Roommates.
As per filings, the company’s parent — Contagious Online Media — reported revenues of close to₹64 lakhs, earning ₹22 lakhs in profits for the period from 3 August to 21 October.
For Tiger global, this is the second big investment in the online video content creation space, and a third in the overall digital media landscape. The VC firm — which already has over 50 portfolio companies in India — had earlier infused close to $18 Million into Culture Machine. The startup enhances brand images through new-age video advertisements. It does so by bringing in more viewers to brands’ YouTube channels through collaboration with creators and their fans.
Culture Machine runs the Being Indian and several other YouTube channels.
Last year, Tiger Global also infused more money into InShorts — the 60 worded news summary providers. The startup had previously received close to $4 Million from Tiger Global itself, with another $20 Million landing in a Series B round.
