100msIndia-based live video conferencing infrastructure startup, has raised $20 million in Series A funding to power the next generation of live video applications, coming out just 5 months after they finished seeding.
This latest round was led by Falcon Edge’s Alpha Wave Incubator, with participation from Matrix Partners India and LocalGlobe, and existing investors Accel and Strive.vc. It brought in $24.5 million in total raised by the startup.
The startup was founded in 2020 during the covid lockdown with the founders wanting to build an app that would allow people in India to watch live matches.
“We decided to build a product where users could watch matches on the app and video call with their friends to enjoy the match. We researched existing solutions and selected one of the existing video SDK providers to do so; it took us four months to make the product work,” said co-founder and CEO 100ms, Kshitij Gupta told TechCrunch.
“And that’s when it all started, we were like no, in this new world where most of the experience will be through live video, it shouldn’t take four months to build such platforms. ,” added Gupta, co-founder of the startup with Aniket Behera and Sarvesh Dwivedi.
The trio previously worked at Disney-Hotstar, one of the largest streaming platforms in India, with Gupta gaining more experience as a live video infrastructure project manager at Meta .
The challenge they went through to build the app inspired them to create a live video infrastructure to allow companies, from those in edtech, to fitness and entertainment to add video conferencing like Zoom inside their app and stream the app to platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
It took them about nine months to build a new product, which companies could integrate, test, and be up and running within a week.
“Most companies shy away from building this technology because it’s so complicated… We’re targeting any business that’s trying to embed video inside their apps. It could be an edtech company doing online classes, a health tech company doing telemedicine calls between doctors and patients, or someone selling something via direct commerce, ‘ said Gupta.
100ms is targeting businesses, like edtechs, telehealth companies, and fitness studios, looking to embed video inside their apps. Image credits: 100ms
The startup posted 20x growth QoQ as demand for its product continued to grow even as in-person experience continued to be the norm. Since last August, more than 2,200 businesses have used the 100ms live video infrastructure including Frontrow and WhiteHat Jr; both edtech platforms, Circle; a platform for creators and brands, Paytm Insider; a live event platform and Kutumb; a community app.
“I think the reason why so many of these accelerations have happened is because we reduce the integration time. We also wanted to build prototypes that companies could use to customize live events for a more immersive experience… for us, we felt that this would be the first step. of our supermarket journey,” said Behera, who started out as a banker before turning to a career in technology.
They plan to use the funding to expand their team, including hiring more video engineers, as they work to add more capabilities to the product.
Falcon Edge’s Alpha Wave Incubation CEO, Anirudh Singh, while commenting on the investment in 100ms said, “Online gyms are asking practitioners to report their injuries. Online schools are adding libraries and enabling one-on-one help sessions. Online dating apps are looking to recreate a better virtual meeting experience. 100ms allows product manufacturers to imagine and add sophisticated live interaction, by abstracting away the complexities of video streaming.”
