Audio Streaming Platform Dose FM Raises Seed Funding

Audio streaming platform Dose FM has raised an undisclosed amount of money as part of its seed funding round from a clutch of investors including AngelList India partner Utsav Somani and Mobile Premier League executive Abhishek Madhavan, said a media report.

The company says it lets users create and share audio cVCCirclelips as well as shows across a variety of topics.

According to the report by Inc42, Dose FM co-founder and chief executive Abhishek Damodara said the firm will use the funding for its growth as well as for developing tools for audio content creators and its own platform.

VCCircle has reached out to Dose FM for details on the investment and will update the story accordingly.

The Bengaluru-based company was founded in 2017 by Damodara, Akhil Appanna and Rishabh Harit. It currently offers a live audio creation tool that also helps creators interact with their listeners and co-host shows with others. It claims to have over 30,000 listeners and 10,000 creators.

According to its Google Play store listing, the startup’s app has been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Dose FM was also part of LightSpeed India’s Extreme Entrepreneur programme, which connects startups with mentors and business leaders.

Somani, an alumnus of Singapore Management University, is a partner at 0B1T Capital, going by LinkedIn. His investment portfolio includes companies such as Testbook, Elemential and CoinDCX.

Madhavan, who is growth vice-president at Mobile Premier League going by LinkedIn, is an alumnus of Anna University and the Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development. He is also the founder and chief executive of Loco, a trivia gaming app.

There has been growing investor interest in the audio space in recent months. Earlier this month, venture capital firm Lightspeed India Partners invested in a vernacular social audio platform, Pocket FM Pvt. Ltd. Times Internet Ltd also put in money.

In July, Bengaluru-based Headfone raised $750,000 (around Rs 5.15 crore) in a seed funding round led by Fosun RZ Capital, the venture capital arm of Chinese conglomerate Fosun International. Axilor Ventures, the startup accelerator and seed fund led by Infosys co-founders Kris Gopalakrishnan and SD Shibulal, also participated in the funding round.―VC Circle