VerSe Innovation, the parent firm of online news aggregator Dailyhunt and short-video platform Josh, on Wednesday said it has acquired New York-based digital magazine store Magzter.
Founded in 2011, homegrown Magzter is a cross-platform, self-service, global digital newsstand with a library of over 8,500 premium magazines and newspapers. The deal, financials of which went undisclosed, marks Dailyhunt’s foray into premium content.
The deal is a cash-and-stock transaction, cofounder Umang Bedi told ET, but declined to share specifics.
The Bengaluru-based startup has also launched Dailyhunt Premium, a subscription-based offering that will provide users access to premium content from international publishers in over 60 languages from Magzter as well as make the app ads-free for a paying user, Bedi told ET.
“We’re doing 100% acquisition of a US-based company, which will run as a subsidiary of VerSe, with both founders retained… The thinking is similar to how Facebook and Instagram came together. Look at the valuation of Facebook back then in 2012 and look at the valuation of Instagram. One plus one put together a combined new valuation of the company,” Bedi added.
The company was founded by former Facebook India managing director Bedi and Virendra Gupta.
The acquisition also marks a significant change in Dailyhunt’s revenue model, which is primarily advertising-driven. Publications available on Magzter include Time, Newsweek, Fortune, The Economist, Forbes, Reader’s Digest, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Maxim, Elle, Vanity Fair, New Yorker and Bazaar across domestic and international editions.
Currently, a three-year subscription of Magzter retails at an offer price of Rs 3,999 in India, where over 8,500 magazines can be browsed and accessed by users. While users can access all content in the first year, from the second year onwards, the accessibility is capped at five magazines and newspapers each month.
Magzter currently has over 1.1 million active paying subscribers from India alone, and a user base exceeding 87 million since inception globally. Dailyhunt, VerSe’s mainstay business, serves over 350 million monthly active users with the time spent per daily active user at 30 minutes.
“This partnership opens up new avenues for delivering high-quality content experiences to users across India, further strengthening our goal of providing unparalleled digital reading experiences to our readers,” Girish Ramdas and Vijayakumar Radhakrishnan, Magzter cofounders, said in a joint statement.
Post the deal, which will be closed by April 30, Magzter’s 75 employees will be fully integrated with VerSe’s 1,200-strong workforce, Bedi added. Also, Magzter investor Kalaari Capital will be exiting. Its only other investor, Singapore Press Holdings will continue to hold its stake.
The parent firm of Dailyhunt and Josh had last raised $805 million in a funding round led by existing investor Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) in 2022. Its total revenue grew by 57% on year to Rs 1,809 crore in FY23.
Source: Reuters.com