Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra has invested $1 million (around Rs 7.5 crore) in social media and blockchain startup Hapramp. The startup is based out of Gurugram.
The startup was founded two years back by five students of the Indian Institute of Information Technology-Vadodara.
"Took 2 yrs, but I finally found the start-up I was looking for! @Hapramp is indigenous, built by 5 young founders & brings together a best-in-class combination of creativity, technology & data protection. Look out for @gosocial_app their social networking platform," Mahindra tweeted on Wednesday.
Took 2 yrs, but I finally found the start-up I was looking for! @Hapramp is indigenous, built by 5 young founders & brings together a best-in-class combination of creativity, technology & data protection. Look out for @gosocial_app their social networking platform. @j_bindra https://t.co/9mFwzjQXjF
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 10, 2020
In 2018, Mahindra had announced via Twitter a funding opportunity for an Indian social media startup that fulfilled certain criteria. He had asked former Mahindra executive Jaspreet Bindra, to work with him in finding a next-gen Indian social network startup.
Bindra said that the Hapramp team is building a Web 3.0 social network, which is built on emerging digital technologies, has a solid business model which rewards content creators, protects personal data, and best of all, is built here locally in India.
He has been enlisted as Executive Advisor and Mentor to the Hapramp founding team. Hapramp was incubated through its early days by Huddle, an incubator that is based in Gurugram. Huddle has also invested in Hapramp.
Besides GoSocial, which is Hapramp’s flagship social networking solution, it also operates 1Ramp.io, a social media platform backed by Steem Blockchain, and Asteria Protocol.
GoSocial is a social media platform that rewards creators as they engage with the community.
Before its formal launch, around 50,000 users have already downloaded the GoSocial app from the Google Play Store. The app will soon be available on Apple App Store.
"We are honoured and excited. This is a massive approval of our mission to give creators the right to their content. We plan to use the funds to expand our platform and want to empower creators," Hapramp co-founder and CEO Shubhendra Vikram told PTI.
Excited and humbled to receive Investment from the most Iconic man in India. @anandmahindra
— Shubhendra Vikram (@shubhendrav) June 10, 2020
Looking forward to to a great journey ahead. Special thanks to @j_bindra and @huddle_work and IIIT Vadodara for all the support in this journey https://t.co/6IZzAfkz1l pic.twitter.com/OSLdhbHBgz
With PTI inputs