Swarajya, one of India’s oldest print publications, has announced a new funding round in its sponsor company Kovai Media Pvt. Ltd.
The new round provides additional capital to supplement internal accruals for funding the next phase of expansion and growth for this unique omni channel platform, which achieved profitability in FY 2020-2021.
The current round was over-subscribed by existing investors themselves, including Venture Finance & Development Corporation (Hari Kiran Vadlamani) Meridian Investments (Mohandas Pai), and was led by Yuj Bharat Holdings, an affiliate of Yuj Ventures (which represent the interests of Siddharth Yog), who now become the sponsor company’s largest shareholder group with 38 per cent ownership, says a release.
“The company plans to use the new infusion to significantly expand its editorial desk and add reporters and staff writers across key gateway cities across Bharat. Part of the funds will also be used to upgrade our technology stack including revamped apps, web properties and implementation of modern customer data platforms.”
“These strategic investments will be focussed on significantly increasing the publication’s coverage, direct reporting and editorial presence, and also widen and deepen our subscriber base”, said Amarnath Govindarajan, the company’s CEO and Publisher.
Swarajya reaches a target audience of around 1 million unique visitors a month It was also among the earliest new age digital media platforms to pivot to a ‘reader-pays’ model which today has over 20,000 subscribers and accounts for most of the company’s revenues, apart from allowing Swarajya to hold independent editorial views on all matters, without fear or favour.