India Digest: Way2News and Pepper Content snag funding …

Pepper Content, a content marketplace, and vernacular hyperlocal short news app Way2News have raised fresh funding.

Way2News raises Series A funding 

Vernacular hyperlocal short news app Way2News Pvt. Ltd on Thursday said it has raised $16.75 million in its Series A funding round from WestBridge Capital and venture capitalist Sashi Reddi.

Way2News will use the fresh capital to expand in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, it said in a statement.

Founded in 2016 by Raju Vanapala, the Hyderabad-based company provides short news updates vetted by its editorial staff.

“At a time when existing social media and news syndication platforms may falter to find reliable local news, Way2News has cracked the code, enabling users to find credible news from small towns and villages while ensuring depth of coverage,” said Vanapala.

Pepper Content raises $14.3m in Series A round 

India-based content marketplace Pepper Content has raised $14.3 million in an extended Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Pepper Content, which connects global brands such as Google, Meta, Amazon and Adobe, said the latest round brought the startup’s all-time raise to about $19 million.

Tanglin Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Titan Capital, and angel investors including Gokul Rajaram, Ritesh Agarwal, Abhinav Sinha, Ankur Nagpal, Dheeraj Pandey, Ashish Gupta, and Kunal Shah joined the new round.

Co-founder Rishabh Shekhar told Tech in Asia that the company recorded a nearly 16x revenue growth in the last 14 months and has nearly 7,000 active creators.

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