Growing At The Rate of 800%, Little Black Book Raises Another $1.2 Mn From IDG Ventures And IAN LBB has proven that urban consumers want to move beyond traditional Yelp-esque listing and aggregator platforms, says co-founder Suchita Salwan
By Ritu Kochar
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As the local discovery market heats up, more and more startups are securing funds from investors. Recently, Delhi-based Little Black Book (LBB) raised $1.2 Mn (about Rs 8 crore) from IDG Ventures India and Indian Angel Network.
Little Black Book is a Delhi based mobile and web platform that gives curated cultural and lifestyle guide to places in Delhi, Gurgaon and Bangalore. Founded by Hindu College alum Suchita Salwan and former Deloitte executive Dhruv Mathur in 2012, LBB covers a wide spectrum of interests from consumers that includes food, events, travel, adventure, lifestyle and shopping, among others. Little Black Book (LBB) claims to reach out to over 1Mn users across web and app currently.
Using content as a medium to drive an engaged audience to local enterprises, places and experiences, LBB has proven that urban consumers want to move beyond traditional Yelp-esque listing and aggregator platforms; they seek more than just food and event discoveries, Salwan said in a statement.
Little Black Book partners with local, small, and medium scale brands along with global brands including Coca Cola, Airbnb, HTC, Samsung, Nestle, in order to engage with local audience. It plans to utilise the funds for technology expansion and talent acquisition along with expanding its base to other cities.
As a media-tech business, our north star has been driving not just monthly active users, but delivering a product that draws a highly engaged and sticky audience, Salwan added.
The latest round comes little less than a year after the three year-old venture raised $150,000 from a clutch of well-known angel investors, a list that includes, Rajan Anandan, vice president and managing director of Google South-east Asia and India, Neeraj Singh, founding partner of Outbox Ventures, Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of MakeMyTrip.com and Singapore Angel Network, among others. In just about 8 months since, the platform claims to register over 800% growth in monthly active users and over 600% growth in revenue.
