Explurger, the travel-centric social media platform co-founded by actor-entrepreneur Sonu Sood, secured a funding of Rs 37.3 crore from global technology company Affle in a Series A funding round on February 22. While Affle is disclosed as a major investor, the names of other participants in the funding round remain undisclosed by the startup.
The funding round, conducted at a pre-money valuation of Rs 338 crore, has resulted in Affle holding a 9.03 percent stake in Explurger.
Founded by Sonu Sood and Jitin Bhatia in 2021, Explurger offers personalized travelogues to its users and boasts a user base of over 8.5 million across 75 countries.
Jitin Bhatia, CEO of Explurger, expressed his excitement about Affle’s investment, citing their reputation for technological innovations and research and development. He emphasized the shared vision of building a future-oriented social media platform that fosters global connectivity beyond conventional metrics like likes and shares, leveraging advancements in AI.
Additionally, Explurger has attracted investments from India Discovery Fund, Jaipuria Family Office, Khimji Family Office, Action Group Family Office, and Kajaria Tiles Family Office.
The startup aims to capitalize on the burgeoning social media market in India while targeting the travel segment to expand its user base. Explurger faces competition from domestic startups like Slick as well as industry giants such as Meta and Snapchat.
Apart from Explurger, Sonu Sood ventured into entrepreneurship in 2020 with the founding of Pravasirojgar, a platform dedicated to job searches.
The involvement of actors like Sonu Sood as investors and entrepreneurs has contributed to the growth of the Indian startup ecosystem in recent years.
