Pratilipi

Pratilipi
Type of site
Available in
FoundedSeptember 2014; 9 years ago (2014-09)
HeadquartersBengaluru, Karnataka, India
Created by
  • Ranjeet Pratap Singh
  • Prashant Gupta
  • Rahul Ranjan
  • Sahradayi Modi
  • Sankaranarayanan Devarajan
Subsidiaries
  • Pratilipi Comics
  • Pratilipi FM
URLpratilipi.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Users2 crore (20 million)
Current statusActive

Pratilipi is an Indian online self-publishing and audiobook portal headquartered in Bangalore. Founded in 2014, the company allows users to publish and read original works such as stories, poetry, essays, and articles in twelve languages: Hindi, Urdu, English, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Punjabi and Odia. The company also launched two other storytelling platforms - Pratilipi Comics & Pratilipi FM, and has also forayed into different formats such as web series, motion series, podcasts, and films.[1]

History[edit]

Pratilipi is a Sanskrit word meaning "you become what you read".[2] It allows users to publish and read original works such as stories, poetry, essays, and articles. It also allows readers to rate content others post, subscribe to authors, and interact with their followers through messaging.[3]

It was launched in September 2014 by Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Prashant Gupta, Rahul Ranjan, Sahradayi Modi, and Sankaranarayanan Devarajan to promote Indian languages. In its initial stage, it was a self-funded platform that allowed users to publish and read original works such as stories, poetry, essays, and articles in two languages- Hindi and Gujarati and had the first one million reads on the platform in 386 days. Later, the creators raised funding of ₹30 lakh from TLabs (Times Internet Accelerator) in March 2015 and raised another USD $1 million from investors led by Nexus Venture Partners in 2016.[3]

At its launch, the platform featured content in only two languages: Hindi and Gujarati. It later expanded to six more languages; Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.[2][4] It also raised USD4.3 million from Series A round led by Omidyar Network in February 2018,[5] and in 2020 secured ₹76 crore in the funding round of Series C led by Tencent.[6]

In early 2018, the company raised Series A to expand and strengthen its product, technology, and data science teams.[5] By this time, Pratilipi had over 80 million content pieces that had been read on the platform with over 150,000 content pieces published by more than 22,000 authors.[7]

By 2020, Pratilipi expanded its language portfolio to the 12 most spoken languages across the country.[8] The company marked 10 Mn MAUs mark in January 2020[9] and grew to 20 million in a span of five months.[10] In the year 2020, Pratilipi launched two storytelling platforms, Pratilipi Comics and Pratilipi FM[11] to experiment with newer formats such as audio and graphics and entered into various partnerships to explore formats such as motion graphics, web series, physical books. In late 2020, Pratilipi acquired IVM Podcasts, India’s premier podcast network to tap into the growing podcast industry. The company launched monetization features in 2021 and currently, most of the top-earning authors are women.[12]

In 2022, Flipkart collaborated with Pratilipi to provide e-books on its platform.[13]

In 2023, Audible (owned by Amazon) and Pratilipi entered into a deal to transform literary works into audiobooks and audio shows.[14]

Pratilipi reported operating revenue of ₹7.88 crore in FY22.[15]

Founding team[edit]

Pratilipi's parent company, Nasadiya Technologies Private Limited was launched in September 2014 and officially incorporated in March 2015 by Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Prashant Gupta, Rahul Ranjan, Sahradayi Modi, and Sankaranarayanan Devarajan to promote storytelling in Indian languages.[16]

Funding[edit]

In its initial stage, it was a self-funded platform. Later the creators raised funding of ₹30 lakhs from TLabs (Times Internet Accelerator) in March 2015[17] and raised another USD1 million from investors led by Nexus Venture Partners in 2016.[18] It also raised USD $4.3 million from Series A round led by Omidyar Network in February 2018,[5] and in 2020 secured ₹76 crores in the funding round of Series C led by Tencent. In July 2021, in the Series D round, it raised $48mn led by Krafton Inc along with existing investors Omidyar Network and a few start-up founders.[19]

Products[edit]

  • Pratilipi
  • Pratilipi FM
  • Pratilipi Comics
  • The Write Order
  • IVM Podcast
  • Westland Books

Award and recognitions[edit]

  • Pratilipi was awarded Eureka Award for Best Business Idea by IIT Bombay and StartUp Launchpad Award for best startup.[20]
  • Tashree, a comic book by Pratilipi Comics was awarded 'Best Digital Comic' Award at Comic Books and More Summit & Awards 2021 by Animation Xpress.[21]
  • Pratilipi was showcased at the first-ever Indian Language Digital festival, Bhasha, on March 11 in New Delhi, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and exclusive language partner Reverie Language Technologies.
  • ASK Private Wealth Hurun India future unicorn Index 2022 has listed Pratilipi under "Cheetah Start Ups" (Hurun Report defines Cheetah as a startup founded after 2000 and has the potential to go Unicorn in the next 4 years.[22]
  • Pratilipi was one of the five global finalists in the ‘Best Retention Campaign’ at Mobile Growth Awards presented by Branch.
  • Flipkart collaborates with Pratilipi to create the biggest library of fiction and nonfiction e-books in 12 Indian languages across multiple genres like romance, horror, self-help, and motivation.[23]
  • The Viral Fever (TVF), acquires the rights to Seema Jain’s Hindi short story from Pratilipi, an online literature platform.[24]
  • Pratilipi Comics acquired the rights for the highly-acclaimed graphic novel “Atharva: The Origin”, featuring ace cricketer MS Dhoni as the titular character.[25]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Bengaluru-based storytelling platform Pratilipi raises $48 million". The Times of India. 15 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b Agarwal, Anushree (19 January 2017). "In letter and spirit". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b Borkhetaria, Bhaamati (14 December 2016). "Online self-publishing goes desi". Forbes India. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  4. ^ zachariah, Preeti (15 April 2015). "Linking Indian languages". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  5. ^ a b c "Self-publishing Platform Pratilipi Garners $4.3 Mn Series A Funding Led By Omidyar Network". Inc42 Media. 5 February 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  6. ^ "Tencent infused Rs 76 Cr in Pratilipi s Ongoing Series C Round". 30 April 2020.
  7. ^ "Omidyar, others invest in e-publishing startup Pratilipi". VCCircle.
  8. ^ "Digital storytelling platform Pratilipi to offer Indian language e-books via Flipkart". Moneycontrol. 2 December 2022.
  9. ^ Upadhyay, Harsh (29 June 2020). "Pratilipi adds 10 Mn MAUs in first 5 months of 2020; 2 Mn users log in every day". Entrackr.
  10. ^ Soni, Yatti (14 July 2020). "The Secret Behind Pratilipi Gaining 20 Mn MAUs In Five Months". Inc42 Media.
  11. ^ "Bengaluru-based storytelling platform Pratilipi raises $48 million". The Times of India. 15 July 2021.
  12. ^ Baruah, Antara (13 November 2022). "Pratilipi is the biggest boom for women writers. Malayalam, Bengali, Hindi rule". ThePrint.
  13. ^ "Flipkart partners with Pratilipi to provide e-books on its platform: Details". The Times of India. 1 December 2022. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  14. ^ Jha, Lata (17 March 2023). "Audible partners with digital storytelling platform Pratilipi". mint. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  15. ^ Sarkar, Gargi (13 March 2023). "Pratilipi's Loss Doubles To INR 196 Cr In FY22". Inc42 Media. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  16. ^ "Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, Prashant Gupta & Rahul Ranjan: Language No Bar". Forbes India.
  17. ^ "Online Self-publishing Goes Desi". Forbes India.
  18. ^ "Exclusive: Nexus Venture backs self-publishing platform Pratilipi". Techcircle. 24 June 2016.
  19. ^ Singh, Manish (14 July 2021). "Indian storytelling platform Pratilipi raises $48 million led by gaming giant Krafton". TechCrunch.
  20. ^ Soni, Vinita (19 May 2016). "Pratilipi :How Social Media Marketing And Authentic Engagement Becomes Growth Factor". Digital Vidya. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  21. ^ "Here are the winners of the first edition of CBAM Awards -". www.animationxpress.com.
  22. ^ "ASK PRIVATE WEALTH HURUN INDIA FUTURE UNICORN INDEX 2022 - Inventiva". 3 July 2022.
  23. ^ "Flipkart partners with Pratilipi to provide e-books on its platform: Details". The Times of India. 1 December 2022.
  24. ^ Jha, Lata (22 January 2022). "TVF acquires rights to Hindi short story". mint.
  25. ^ "Epic graphic novel 'Atharva: The Origin' now available at Pratilipi Comics". ThePrint. 10 September 2022.

External links[edit]

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