Lokal, a consumer AI startup focused on building for Bharat focused on users in Tier-2 and Tier-3 India, plans to deepen its engagement to boost high-intent transactions per user.

The firmcurrently has 15 million active users across products and aims to scale this to 50 million in FY27 as it deepens penetration across underserved markets. “Our focus, however, remains on driving high-quality engagement and outcomes, rather than optimising purely for user numbers, Jani Pasha, co-founder and CEO, Lokal, told Fe. 

The company also plans to onboard more verified service providers to improve service quality. It will also continue to build monetisation through micro-transactions and subscription-led offerings aligned with spending behaviour in smaller towns.

“AI-led personalisation, matching, and conversational discovery will play a key role in driving higher engagement, better conversion, and repeat usage across these categories,” Pasha added.  

Looking at Lokal’s journey

The startup which started out as a hyperlocal content and community platform in 2018 and has evolved into a multi-app ecosystem helping native-language users access practical services such as jobs, agricultural advice, matrimony, learning content and expert consultations. 

Lokal today follows a “house-of-apps” approach, building focused products for specific user needs instead of bundling multiple services into a single super app.

It now plans to expand into additional high-intent categories such as financial access, career advisory, skilling and local commerce, supported by shared infrastructure for trust, discovery and payments.

AI-enabled assistants are also being developed to improve expert productivity, assist with user interactions, and enable more scalable, high-quality outcomes across services.

The company also aims to deepen penetration in underserved districts across India through its multi-language product strategy, while also selectively exploring international opportunities in markets with similar native-language internet user behaviour this year. 

Lokal has raised approximately Rs 228 crore from investors including India Quotient, 3one4 Capital, Y Combinator, Global Brain and Sony Innovation Fund.

In FY25, it reported a revenue of Rs 67.4 crore, driven by micro-transactions across categories such as jobs, matrimonial services, native-language learning content, social media and expert advisory platforms. “We are also a profitable firm and we expect to see strong progress on unit economics across key categories this year too,” Pasha said. 

 “Over the past year, Lokal has consciously evolved from a scale-first growth approach to a sharper focus on sustainable unit economics. The company is now prioritising monetisable, outcome-driven user journeys such as successful classified matches and micro-transaction-led products instead of relying predominantly on advertising revenue,” Pasha said. ENDS