Listen to this articleOne Impression, an Indian influencer advertising and marketing platform that does enterprise in markets together with Indonesia, Dubai, Europe and the U.S., has raised $10 million in a funding spherical led by the South Korean gaming firm Krafton.
The Gurugram-based startup is constructing an Amazon-like platform to assist manufacturers rapidly discover related influencers for their advertising and marketing campaigns. It touts having more than 7 million content creators on the platform that manufacturers starting from FMCG to e-commerce can entry. These creators embody the micro-ones growing content from villages and tier-2 and tier-3 cities, in addition to massive celebrities and even Bollywood actors that generate more than 100,000 content items for more than 500 manufacturers in over 10 languages. The platform is also not restricted to influencers from a selected style and has creators in comedy, magnificence, vogue and DIY, amongst different fields.
“We ensure the right pricing for every influencer, and as a platform, we ensure that as a brand, you get the best match and the best price for every creator that you work with,” said Apaksh Gupta, co-founder and CEO, One Impression, in an interview with TechCrunch.
Founded in 2018 by Gupta and his brother Jivesh Gupta, One Impression works straight with content creators, companies and brokers to supply manufacturers a variety of influencers to suit their necessities. This is in contrast to a standard influencer advertising and marketing company or a creator discovery device, the place you sometimes discover only a single source to select. Also, the startup affords full-stack options starting from discovery, pricing and funds to compliance, government contracts, supply and efficiency monitoring.
“We’re bridging the gap between brands and creators. We’re trying to make the partnerships between brands and creators the most seamless, fastest, repeatable and scalable,” the executive said.
In addition to serving to manufacturers attain the right influencer, One Impression is constructing instruments for creators to assist them monetize their content and unlock alternatives to collaborate with different creators and make finance simpler utilizing automation. The startup is also engaged on instruments to let creators simply entry studios throughout India and even get PR alternatives, said Gupta.
Currently, One Impression has enabled its platform for Instagram and YouTube. It also plans to unlock it for LinkedIn and Moj in India and TikTok for world markets over time.
“As different platforms continue to become important for any market, we’ll continue to integrate those new platforms into our platform,” Gupta said.
One Impression takes a charge from manufacturers for connecting them with influencers and charges commissions to content creators that develop as soon as the creators develop into more related for large-scale campaigns. This makes it a two-sided market for each manufacturers and creators. It is also engaged on launching premium instruments to supply manufacturers a subscription-based mannequin for normal earnings.
The Krafton-led, all-equity Series A funding spherical also noticed participation from Peer Capital. It valued the startup at $70 million post-money.
On whether or not the funding coming from Krafton was strategic, Gupta told TechCrunch that the gaming giant has come as a monetary investor.
“The creator ecosystem is at the cusp of a revolution. It holds massive untapped potential, and we believe that One Impression is rightly positioned to be a global leader of the influencer industry. One Impression has an ambitious vision for the space, and we are delighted to support them in their journey,” said Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of Krafton India, in a ready assertion.
Since 2021, Krafton has invested over $100 million in varied Indian startups to develop into more than a gaming firm. However, the corporate has confronted the banning of its extensively common gaming title Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) in the country — simply months after it struggled to bring its original PUBG Mobile title back that also got banned by the Indian government in 2020 over nationwide safety considerations.
“At Krafton, we are committed to the Indian market and see tremendous potential here. We have invested around $100 million in various Indian startups since 2021. And our investment in One Impression is a step towards augmenting this ecosystem and creating opportunities of growth,” Sohn said.
One Impression, which claims to have created a worthwhile enterprise with out advertising and marketing, plans to make the most of the contemporary funds to build a advertising and marketing staff and scale its gross sales staff to broaden its presence in world markets, beginning with Southeast Asia and the UAE. It also seems to make acquisitions in Dubai to spice up its market presence. The deliberate growth is projected to assist the startup develop its common income fee to $40 million.
In 2022, One Impression raised $1 million from angels, together with Peyush Bansal of Lenskart, Anupam Mittal of People Group and celebrities akin to Olympian Neeraj Chopra and comic Zakir Khan, amongst others.
Krafton backs Indian influencer advertising and marketing platform One Impression in $10M funding by Jagmeet Singh initially printed on TechCrunch
