VerSe Innovation, the parent company of news aggregator platform Dailyhunt and short video sharing application Josh, has acquired Magzter, a cross-platform global digital newsstand with a library of over 8,500 premium magazines and newspapers. This acquisition will see Magzter’s subscription-based offering being launched as Dailyhunt Premium, which will provide users access to content from international publishers in over 60 languages.
The 100% acquisition for an undisclosed amount marks Dailyhunt’s entry into the super premium content category. Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor in this transaction.
New York-based Magzter has over 1.1 million active paying subscribers from India and a user base exceeding 87 million since its establishment in 2011.
VerSe was valued at $5 billion after raising $805 million in April 2022. It’s total revenue had grown by 57% to Rs 1,809 crore in FY23, up from Rs 1,151 crore in FY22. Dailyhunt clocked a revenue of over Rs 1,200 crore and was Ebitda positive in FY23 at 10%.
The company, which has not filed its FY24 audited results yet, looks to double revenue, and triple Ebitda from the current levels in the next 18-24 months.
“While Dailyhunt has grown subsitaintially over the past few years, an area we haven’t addressed so far is the growing premium user base in the country. We believe this is about 10-20 million people in India. Their behaviour mimics a lot of the habits in the West in terms of online consumption. They tend to consume premium higher quality content. This is the offering we are adding for the elite audience with the acquisition of Magzter,” said Umang Bedi, co-founder of VerSe Innovation.
“We have found that one out of 10 users in India are willing to pay for an ad-free experience. So, there is a potential for this acquisition to really give us a boost in India as well as globally,” Bedi added.
When asked about whether pirated versions of e-papers and magazines circulated on Telegram channels, some of which have millions of subscribers, pose as threat to its business, Bedi said, “The fact that piracy exists cannot be denied. However, it also indicates that there is a large demand for these products. What we have seen is that when we offer a service at the right price point, there is a massive business opportunity despite the existence of piracy. Also at some point we expect channels like Telegram to clamp down on such unauthorised sharing as well,” he added.
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