Way2News

Sep 17, 2024

The Hyderabad-based company plans to use the funding to deepen its engagement with communities consuming news in Telugu and Tamil, while also expanding across South India with a focus on Kannada and Malayalam in the coming quarters. Tuesday September 17, 2024 , 3 min Read Hyperlocal news platform Way2News has bagged $14 million in Series B funding, led by WestBridge Capital, with participation from venture capitalist Sashi Reddi. Both investors are doubling down after their previous involvement in a $16.75 million Series A round back in 2022. With this round of funding , the Hyderabad-based company plans to deepen its engagement with communities consuming news in Telugu and Tamil, while also expanding across South India with a focus on Kannada and Malayalam in the coming quarters. “This investment is a step towards expanding our footprint into every household in South India, ensuring that all citizens can access timely and relevant news in their language,” Raju Vanapala, Founder and CEO of Way2News, told YourStory. The startup , which offers news in eight languages—Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, and Hindi—has primarily focused on Telugu and Tamil, growing in regions where these languages are spoken. Its presence in the other languages has been minimal, mostly limited to pilot runs. “We focus on building businesses across various districts. The number of districts you are present in, along with your DAU (daily active users) and MAU (monthly active users) in each district, is how we assess the business,” Vanapala noted. “India is a diverse country with many languages and dialects, so consumption patterns vary significantly. That is why we approach things on a district-by-district basis. We have found that retention rates can differ from one district to another, and generalising based on language alone isn’t effective,” he added. According to the CEO, the company is present in about 100 districts across South India, including 26 districts in Andhra Pradesh, 33 in Telangana, and 39 in Tamil Nadu. Over the past two years, it claims to have grown nearly 3x in these markets, reaching almost 15 MAUs. “Over the last few years, Way2News has made remarkable strides in democratising access to local news across South India, effectively addressing a crucial gap in the market. Their rapid growth in the Telugu and Tamil markets is a testament to their vision and the strength of their model,” said Rishit Desai, Partner at WestBridge . Founded in 2015 by Vanapala, Way2News offers short news stories from its sources in local languages, leveraging its AI-powered, human-enhanced news delivery model to cater to user preferences. The latest funding infusion enables the startup to build on its growth, scale its operations, and enhance its technology. The Hyderabad-based firm plans to invest substantially in AI to expand its team. With the increasing scale of AI usage, it will allocate resources to AI-led research to improve its use cases. The current AI team of approximately 12 members is expected to grow fourfold. The news platform receives approximately 13,000 to 14,000 news items daily from various locations. To manage and publish this volume of content, it would typically require at least a thousand people. Instead, the platform has developed an AI model that efficiently processes all this content. A team of 20-21 individuals manages these snippets daily, with only 15% undergoing manual publication. In addition to Way2News , platforms such as DailyHunt and Inshorts are present in this news space. In FY23, the company’s revenue was Rs 28.99 crore, compared to Rs 27.36 crore in FY22 and Rs 11.65 crore in FY21. Way2News reported a loss of Rs 15.43 crore in FY23, a profit of Rs 4.79 crore in FY22, and a loss of Rs 1.02 crore in FY21. For FY24, Way2News has grown its top line by about 40% but has not yet returned to profitability, with plans to achieve it in the coming fiscal years, according to Vanapala. Edited by Megha Reddy