Pratilipi - India's Largest Digital Platform Connecting Readers and Writers
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People love reading novels, stories, magazines, poems, essays, etc., and they go to libraries in their free time to do so. They love reading books. They are attached to various collections and verses.
But now, in today's life, you need not go out and search for your favorite books. Pratilipi is present to provide you with emotions and thoughts. It brings both the readers and the writers under the same canopy. Read the Pratilipi success story below.
Pratilipi: Company Highlights
Startup Name | Pratilipi |
---|---|
Headquarters | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India |
Sector | Digital Media |
Founders | Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Sahradayi Modi, Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, Rahul Ranjan and Prashant Gupta |
Founded | 2014 |
Website | pratilipi.com |
Pratilipi - About
Pratilipi - Startup Story
Pratilipi - Founders And Team
Pratilipi - Logo
Pratilipi - Business and Revenue Model
Pratilipi - Funding And Investors
Pratilipi - Shareholders
Pratilipi - Growth
Pratilipi - Products and Features
Pratilipi - Acquistion
Pratilipi - Partnership
Pratilipi - Award
Pratilipi - Competitors
Pratilipi - Future Plans
Pratilipi - About
The company is the largest digital platform for readers as well as writers. Both are found together on a common platform. It is an audiobook portal based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Collections are available in several languages, like Gujarati, Urdu, Hindi, Malayalam, English, Kannada, Bengali, and Marathi. Pratilipi has around 2 million users. The word 'Pratilipi' is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning 'copy'.
Pratilipi - Startup Story
Ranjeet Pratap Singh says in his interview that once anybody starts reading books through their characters and stories, they can live many lives. Pratilipi is a Sanskrit word that means to copy. So, the founders selected the name Pratilipi because the readers can read the stories and can become a good, bad, or adventurous man as it is written in the story. The idea behind Pratilipi was to make available content in almost all languages of India so that everybody is compatible with their own language and nobody misses a chance to say, 'I don't know this language. So, I was unable to read the story.
Pratilipi - Founders And Team
Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Sahradayi Modi, Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, Rahul Ranjan,, and Prashant Gupta are the founders of Pratilipi.
- Ranjeet Pratap Singh is the co-founder and CEO of Pratilipi. He started his career as an area sales manager at Vodafone.
- Sahradayi Modi is the product manager and co-founder at Pratilipi. She started her career as a channel manager at Vodafone India.
- Sankaranarayanan Devarajan is the co-founder of Pratilipi. He started his career as a management trainee at Vodafone. He was also an Analyst and Trader at Capstone Securities Analysis Pvt Ltd.
- Rahul Ranjan is the tech co-founder at Pratilipi. He began his career as a systems engineer at Tata Consultancy Services.
- Prashant Gupta was the co-founder and CTO at Pratilipi. Now, he is the co-founder, CTO, and COO at Hubblestellar Technologies.
Pratilipi - Logo
Pratilipi is a Sanskrit word that means to copy.
Pratilipi - Business and Revenue Model
As it is mentioned above, the meaning is a copy, and it is a place for both readers and writers. Pratilipi serves all the bookworms at any place and at any time. No carrying of books anywhere anymore. The mission is to please customers through the content. There are some compatibility problems because of the languages, but they are planning to fix them. The stories are heart-touching. Profits can be made in different contexts. The most interesting part is that users no longer have to download large files and face formatting issues.
Commission
The work is on commission. The company is making money with the help of new writers and Indian authors. There are authors who even want to sell their books through Pratilipi, through which the company earns up to 70%.
Premium Subscription
Pratilipi receives money from clients' premium subscriptions, which they use to access all of the most recent episodes of ongoing shows through the SuperFan subscription. An individual writer's subscription costs INR 25, according to the firm.
Brand Advertising
Pratilipi makes revenue from the brand advertising of the company through various sources like online advertising, content marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, email marketing, and more.
Pratilipi - Funding And Investors
The company had already raised a total of $80.6 million in funding so far over the 7 funding rounds that it received, with the last Series D round coming from South Korean gaming giant Krafton Inc. The other participants in this July 14, 2021,, round included an existing investor, Omidyar Network India, and a band of other startup founders.
Date | Transaction Name | Money Raised | Lead Investor |
---|---|---|---|
July 14, 2021 | Series D | $48 million | KRAFTON Inc. |
June 28, 2021 | Debt funding | $2.68 million | Alteria Capital |
April 30, 2020 | Series C | $9.4 million | Tencent Holdings |
June 6, 2019 | Series B | $14.7K | Qiming Venture Partners |
February 5, 2018 | Series A | $4.3 million | Omidyar Network |
June 28, 2016 | Seed Round | $925K | - |
March 1, 2015 | Seed Round | $50K | - |
Pratilipi is funded by 12 investors. Krafton Inc. is the most recent investor. The recent funds would help the company strengthen its IP acquisition and help in promising development across a range of formats, including but not limited to audiobooks, podcasts, comics, and web series. Pratilip further stated in a recent press release that the company will also look forward to overseas expansion
Pratilipi - Shareholders
Pratilipi shareholding as of November 2024 (source: Tracxn):
Pratilipi Shareholders | Percentage |
---|---|
Ranjeet Pratap Singh | 4.7% |
Sankaranarayanan Devarajan | 2.0% |
Omidyar Network | 17.7% |
Nexus Venture Partners | 10.4% |
Qiming Venture Partners | 6.7% |
Shunwei Capital | 5.0% |
Timesgroup | 3.0% |
Krafton | 15.6% |
Tencent | 5.0% |
Asnu Finvest | 5.0% |
Angel | 4.6% |
ESOP Pool | 6.3% |
Others | 14% |
Pratilipi - Growth
Pratilipi is a vernacular storytelling platform. The company recorded rapid growth in 2020. The app, which consists of self-publishers, has seen 20 million monthly users. In February 2020, the company had 10 million active users. But five months later, the numbers changed, and in June 2020, it had 20 million active users. This data proves that the company is growing at a faster rate. Pratilipi brought new products to the market, which is why the company saw this huge change. Pratilipi is present in 12 Indian languages.
The company is further looking to explore markets overseas, as per the recent press release.
Financials
Pratilipi Financials | FY23 | FY24 |
---|---|---|
Operating Revenue | INR 34.9 crore | INR 57.8 crore |
Total Expenses | INR 192.8 crore | INR 116.7 crore |
Profit/Loss | Loss of INR 152.63 crore | Loss of INR 58.13 crore |
Pratilipi operating revenue surged from INR 34.9 crore in FY23 to INR 57.8 crore in FY24, and its losses saw a significant drop from INR 152.63 crore in FY23 to INR 58.13 crore in FY24.
EBITDA
FY23 - FY24 | FY23 | FY24 |
---|---|---|
Operating Revenue | -359.94% | -89.74% |
Expense/₹ of Op Revenue | INR 5.53 | INR 2.02 |
ROCE | -141.31% | -81.01% |
Pratilipi - Products and Features
The monetization feature was introduced in October 2021, aligning with Pratilipi's overarching mission of supporting and empowering aspiring writers across India. This strategic launch aimed to provide a tangible avenue for writers to not only share their creativity but also earn from their literary works.
Pratilipi - Acquistion
Pratilipi has acquired two companies to date:
Company Name | Date | Price |
---|---|---|
IVM Podcasts | August, 2021 | - |
The Write Order | September, 2021 | - |
Pratilipi - Partnership
Pratilipi has partnered with various companies, and the latest partnership is with Disney Star in September 2023 for a multi-series content deal.
Some of the other partnerships are:
- Disney Star
- Harper Collins
- Audible
- Westland
- BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India)
- Ekatra
Pratilipi - Award
The IIT Bombay-hosted Eureka Award is a prestigious venue for honoring innovative entrepreneurship and ground-breaking business endeavors, and Pratilipi won the Eureka Award for Best Business Idea organized by IIT Bombay.
Pratilipi - Competitors
The top competitors of the company are Elix, NYC, Wccftech, and Moblog.
- Elix is a platform that provides an online news portal. The company was founded in 1999. It is a private company.
- NYC is a service mark and trademark of New York City. It is a private company.
- Wccftech is a company that is developing a media platform. The company was founded in 2004. It is a private company.
- Moblog is a phone blogging community. This site provides online and mobile web blogging utilities for its clients. The company was founded in 2006. It is a private company.
Pratilipi - Future Plans
The company has no plans to monetize the platform in the future. But Ranjeet Pratap Singh says that he has some theories to generate more revenue in the coming days. Pratilipi will only be able to do this task when a survey is conducted by the team. And Ranjeet Pratap Singh has plans to predict the next 50 Shades of Grey or Harry Potter. These kinds of bestsellers will help the company generate more capital. Ranjeet Pratap Singh says this model will work when the actual time comes.
Pratilipi, plans to launch its IPO in January 2026, depending on market conditions, says co-founder Ranjeet Pratap Singh. The company aims to raise $12 million (₹100 crore) in a pre-IPO round, likely at a lower valuation than its previous funding round due to market trends.
Frequently Asked Questions - FAQs
What is Pratilipi?
Pratilipi is India's largest digital platform connecting readers and writers in 12 different Indian languages.
Is Pratilipi a Chinese app?
No, Pratilipi was founded in 2014 and is an Indian language self-publishing platform headquartered in Bengaluru.
Is Pratilipi app free?
Yes, Pratilipi is free to use.
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