San Francisco-based 8TV raises $500, 000 to get into Indian market

Aiming to strengthen its platform and expand into the Indian market, San Francisco-based startup 8TV has raised $500,000 funding, which is around Rs 3.34 crore, from investors including Redcliffe Capital Managing Partner Dheeraj Jain, Google executive Tidhar Carmeli and angel investor Thomas Korte.

The startup graduated from a tech accelerator in Silicon Valley, namely Angelpad, and its customers include the likes of Unilever. The company offers short-form video network for brands.

It counts among its investors the likes of the US tech giant Amazon, who has invested about $100,000 worth of AWS services credit.

8TV founder Leon Crutchley told PTI, “We have received a $500,000 investment from Dheeraj Jain (Managing Partner at Redcliffe Capital), Tidhar Carmeli and Thomas Korte (ex-Google and Angelpad), with additional $100,000 invested by Amazon in the form of AWS services.”

Redcliffe’s investment opens up the Asian market for 8TV starting with India, stated Redcliffe Capital Early Stage Investments Lead Aakaar Gandhi.

“The booming digital native space makes India a very attractive proposition for 8TV,” he added.

Brands are working hard to catch up with and stay relevant for the digitally empowered consumer and that offers a huge potential to companies like 8TV, he added.

Crutchley added, “We’ve worked with a lot of FMCG brands and noticed most were broadcasting their products at their customers rather than communicating with them. Brands need a way to build direct meaningful relationships with their customers or die. That is a problem that 8TV seeks to solve,” he added.

8TV will begin piloting in India with The Man Company, a men’s grooming products maker

According to the ‘Digital Advertising in India’ report, jointly published by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, the digital advertising market in India that was pegged at Rs 5,200 crore at the end of December 2015. Digital advertising spends were about 12 per cent of the total advertisement spends in the country.

The spending is projected to reach Rs 7,044 crores by the end of this year at a CAGR of 35 percent.