Entertainment app Roast raises funding from Indian Angel Network

Image: Joshua Navalkar

Sanjay Mehta, lead IAN investor

Delhi-based startup Roast, an entertainment mobile application, has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN), the world’s largest network of business angels. The investment has been made under the ‘Small Ticket Funding' programme which was announced by IAN last year. Under the programme, IAN offers a fixed investment amount of Rs 25 lakh at a fixed valuation of Rs 2.5 crore post investment. The programme aims to provide funds to the aspiring entrepreneurs and support unique, innovative and scalable ideas which have the potential to become globally relevant and successful businesses.

Sanjay Mehta has led this round of investment on behalf of IAN and will join the company board for further mentoring the team.

Roast caters to a specific need of people who love to talk, converse and take a stand on various issues.  

“We wanted to create an ecosystem where users can fly in, write, coupled with a sheer reading experience. Our aim is to be a premiere micro-sharing entertainment platform on mobile, catering to the ‘entertainment in short’ need of witty Indians,” said Anchal Singh, co-Founder, Roast.

The company plans to utilise the investment for acquiring customers and to invest in its technology platform.  

“The concept of Roast is new and one of its kind. We have always believed in supporting unique ideas that have the potential to disrupt. Roast is targeted at users that spend most of their time online for consuming information across subjects. With video-on-demand service providers also exploring India as a mature market, it clearly defines the market potential for Roast,” says Sanjay Mehta, lead IAN investor, in a statement.

Mobile phones in India are helping internet content to ‘go viral’. The current internet user base in India is expected to be over 400 million and will reach 500 million by the end of 2016. Over 300 million users access the internet from mobile phones. Indians, on an average, spend 3 hours and 18 minutes a day on their smartphones. One-third of this time is spent on mobile apps. Of various app categories, social and messaging apps have seen a growth of 203 percent in downloads in the last one year.