[Exclusive]: Short-Form Video App 'Public' Raises ₹260 Crore from Addition, SIG Global, and Tanglin

• The short-form video app 'Public', has raised ₹260 Crore from Addition, SIG Global, and Tanglin.
• The app acts as a bridge between local authorities and common people and allows its users to share their opinion on the status quo.
• Some prominent public figures on the platform include Indian Youth Congress, Hema Malini, Bhopinder S Hooda, Ranveer Brar, and Sadhguru.

The homegrown short-form video app 'Public', has raised ₹260 Crore from Addition, SIG Global, and Tanglin. It's India's largest location-based social network for everything local such as updates, commerce, jobs, classifieds, and more.

Launched in April 2019, the app has been on an exponential growth trajectory. Within six months of the launch, it became one of the fastest-growing Indian social apps and ranked No.1 on Play store for providing local updates in a video format.

The app saw a real surge in its users only after the whole boycott Chinese product sentiment emerged in June. It almost added 50 million+ users that month.

The public app acts as a bridge between local authorities and common people. It allows its users to share their opinion on the status quo, ask questions directly to the concerned authority or raise a complaint against an issue they are facing in their city.

While political leaders, government authorities, media houses and citizen journalists use the app to connect with communities and disseminate verified and trustworthy video content; local businesses like shops, astrologers, doctors, lawyers use the platform to reach out to the local consumers. 

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“We are thrilled to have this support from Addition, SIG Global and Tanglin Venture Partners in our journey towards building the world’s largest location-based social network,” said Azhar Iqubal, Founder & CEO, Public App.

“With more than 50 million active users and over 1 million videos being created every month on the app, Public aims to connect the local communities of Bharat and become the one-stop solution for all their local needs,” Iqubal added.

The plan is to utilize the funding towards rapid scaling up of tech infrastructure, content offerings, and employee base to further speed up the growth and continue improving on retention and engagement.

The public app was launched by Inshorts in April 2019. The app is available in all major Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Assamese, Gujarati, and Marathi.

The app has a mixed user base from metros and Tier III cities. It has about 5,000 influencers ranging from top politicians to local authorities to budding influencers. Indian Youth Congress, Hema Malini, Bhopinder S Hooda, Ranveer Brar, and Sadhguru are some prominent public figures on the platform.

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