Svara, a digital media and broadcasting platform in Indonesia, is in discussions with several VC investors to raise US$8 million in Series A funding, its Co-founder and CEO Farid Fadhil Habibi told e27.
The fund to be raised will be used for accelerating Svara’s growth and to acquire new users and content, Habibi said in an interview with us.
The startup had earlier secured an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A from corporate VC firm UMG Idealab to strengthen its technology and marketing teams.
“We are looking for US$8 million, which will be used to accelerate the growth of our B2C business, as well as to acquire new users and content, including music royalty licences. So far, we’ve had talks with several VCs,” Habibi disclosed.
Also Read: Innovate and go: How Traveloka revamps its services to comply with changing travel behaviour
Established in 2017 by Hemat Dwi Nuryanto and Habibi, Svara has two offerings — an on-air automation platform for broadcasters (AM/FM radio) and an online platform (for listeners).
Svara uses a cloud-based system to support the broadcasting industry in order to help them operate their end-to-end business process, such as scheduling pre-on-air, executing the broadcasting activity, and reporting post-on-air, so that the radio crew can handle all operations remotely.
For the end users, Svara offers a B2C platform to enjoy various audio and non-audio content on the app, including radio, music and podcasts.
Svara has collaborated with various companies/organisations, including PRSSNI (Indonesian National Private Broadcasting Radio Association), Collective Management Institute (WAMI – Wahana Music Indonesia), Telkomsel, LPIK ITB (Innovation & Entrepreneurship Development Institute of Bandung Institute of Technology), and IDX (Indonesia Stock Exchange) Incubator.
The platform is currently used by more than 100 AM/FM local radio broadcasters.
“We started Svara because we wanted to create a social impact and empower the radio stations to adapt to the changing times in Indonesia as well as globally,” Habibi added.
Also Read: Will smartphones become the mall of the future?
Svara banks on several monetisation plans, including a model wherein broadcasters can choose to either pay cash or barter with analogue ads that the startup can sell to third parties.
On expansion
In the short-term, Svara plans to expand in ASEAN, starting with Myanmar. It is also nursing global ambitions and enter the market in the Americas and Europe in the future.
“There are 100,000 AM/FM radio broadcasters globally and four billion listeners, with the total available market to be more than US$100 billion,” he said.
—
Image Credit: Svara
The post Indonesia’s Svara in talks for US$8M Series A, eyes Myanmar’s broadcast market appeared first on e27.