Dailyhunt parent acquires Magzter, grows revenue from ads to subscriptions
VerSe Innovation, the parent firm of online news aggregator Dailyhunt and short-video platform Josh, on Wednesday said it has acquired New York-based digital magazine store Magzter.
Founded in 2011, homegrown Magzter is a cross-platform, self-service, global digital newsstand with a library of over 8,500 premium magazines and newspapers. The deal, financials of which went undisclosed, marks Dailyhunt’s foray into premium content.
Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill Courses
Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitMITMIT Technology Leadership and InnovationVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Professional Certificate in Product ManagementVisitThe deal is a cash-and-stock transaction, cofounder Umang Bedi told ET, but declined to share specifics.
The Bengaluru-based startup has also launched Dailyhunt Premium, a subscription-based offering that will provide users access to premium content from international publishers in over 60 languages from Magzter as well as make the app ads-free for a paying user, Bedi told ET.
“We're doing 100% acquisition of a US-based company, which will run as a subsidiary of VerSe, with both founders retained… The thinking is similar to how Facebook and Instagram came together. Look at the valuation of Facebook back then in 2012 and look at the valuation of Instagram. One plus one put together a combined new valuation of the company,” Bedi added.
The company was founded by former Facebook India managing director Bedi and Virendra Gupta.
T
