Once upon a time in Agra

April 6th 2022. Yesterday was a very big day for us.

VerSe innovation (we) announced massive fundraise of over $800 Million in a series J round taking the total company valuation to ?$5 Billion. Since yesterday, there has been a series of congratulatory text, messages and calls and as all of this sinks in, I feel proud and humbled at the same time.

When I joined VerSe in January of 2018, this was a small start-up where conviction on vernacular content was very high but it was not very fashionable to talk about vernacular content or trying to reach Bharat users in the larger internet ecosystem.

As it is with every new category, I wanted to start with consumer understanding. As part of the consumer work, I travelled to Agra. I met this young person who was around 28-30 years and had come to meet me for a one on one consumer chat. He came from a village which was around 60 mins away from the city of Agra. He was preparing for the government jobs/exams and he was coming to the city every day to attend coaching classes and also give competitive exams and train for group discussions and personal interviews to follow.

Approximately 20 minutes into the chat, I had developed enough rapport with the consumer that he started sharing some of his deepest problems and anxieties. In his entire family, he was the only person who did not have a government job. He was already MSc in Maths and could easily earn a comfortable living only by giving tuition but he was very keen to clear the government exams and get a government job. This he said was …most likely was his final attempt to clear these exams. He nonchalantly mentioned to me that if he failed this year, he would slit his wrists and commit suicide.

I was shocked. I am no counsellor by profession. Words were hard to come by and I could not convince him with any logic. I attempted to steer the conversation towards Dailyhunt and how did we play a role in his life.

The way he was using his travel time to the city was the answer. He would use Dailyhunt to read about all the trending topics and news that would help him prepare and compete with the other students in Group Discussions and Personal Interviews. He also told me that since he was a person with limited means and limited access, it was Dailyhunt that he was banking on to help him clear the exams. He would read multiple articles and watch videos from different sources to build a perspective around the topic. He felt more confident that he knew what was happening around him and since it was in his language he could comprehend much better.

That is the day, the proverbial penny dropped for DailyHunt. It told me that I had to learn so much more and sharpen my understanding of Bharat and take a fresh view at this piece. Dailyhunt was providing a way for Bharat to compete with India and not be left behind. Whether it is news or entertainment, VerSe always ....always attempts to bridge the digital divide. That is our secret sauce. That very same thought is enshrined in VerSe mission statement.

So as we start another financial year, the hope and prayer is to be helpful, relevant and entertaining to 1.3 billion Indians in as many ways possible as we were for that one person in Agra.