Video Messaging Platform Gonuts Raises INR 3.5 Cr Seed Fund The funding round was led by angel investors Sweta Rau and Archana Priyadarshini along with participation from 9Unicorns, AngelList, Lets Venture and other angel investors

Video messaging platform Gonuts, which allows users to send personalized video messages to their friends recorded by celebrities, said on Tuesday it has raised INR 3.5 crore seed funding.

The funding round was led by angel investors Sweta Rau and Archana Priyadarshini along with participation from 9Unicorns, AngelList, Lets Venture, Pankaj Chaddah, co-founder, Mindhouse and Zomato, Livspace co-founder Ramakant Sharma, IIM Indore Alumni Fund, Harshal Morde and others.

Gonuts was founded by Vinamra Pandiya, Mayank Gupta along with Joji George, who is a media and entertainment industry veteran, in March 2020.

The Mumbai-based celebrity commerce platform said it aims to bridge the gap between celebrities and their millions of fans, and democratise talent to the Indian and expatriate Indian diaspora.

"Our plan is to strengthen our market leadership and follow through on our vision to be Asia's largest and most influential celebrity commerce platform. We feel that investments in the right team, technology and other levers of growth is very important and will be our immediate priority," said founder Pandiya.

Commenting on the company's model, Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, MD and co-founder, 9Unicorns, said, "Indians are quite passionate about the celebrities that they follow. And yet, the influence that they hold over the masses has largely been untapped by brands. The team at GoNuts is creating a disruption in this field by delivering curated celebrity experiences."

Currently, GoNuts has signed up over 700 of celebrities across films, television, sports and music industries.

Celebrities on the platform include Shankar Mahadevan, Hans Raj Hans, Shaan, Kailash Kher, Sukhbir, Talat Aziz, Shibani Kashyap, Hariharan, Sivamani, Shivin Narang, Jonty Rhodes, Sumeet Verma, Ranveer Brar, Ashish Vidyarthi and Vicky Ratnani, among others.

"We aim to on-board 5000+ of the most influential and inspirational celebrities by the next financial year and be the unicorn out of India in this category for the rest of the world," Pandiya added.

The company said its uniqueness lies in its ability to connect the Indian and global Indian diaspora to talent across genres that are multi- lingual and also at multi segmented price points.

"Experiences are so much more valuable than anything else. Gonuts is creating category in by building marketplace that help create experiences of joy, excitement and fun. It is making it easy for fans and influencers/celebrities connect in a deeper way through personalised videos to begin with," said Sweta Rau, Angel and Venture Investor, White Ventures.