Lokal was founded by Vipul Chaudhary, Jani Pasha in 2018.

Who are Lokal's investors?

Lokal's investors include 3one4 Capital, India Quotient, Soma Capital, Y Combinator, Capria Ventures, Global Brain, Sony Ventures Corporation, Z Nation Lab Growth and 1 more.

Where is Lokal headquartered?

Lokal is headquartered in Bengaluru, IN.

Lokal

YC S19

Bengaluru, IN · Founded 2018 · 24 employees · 9 known investors

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Lokal is a vernacular hyperlocal platform providing local news, classifieds, and job listings to non-English speaking users across rural and tier 2+ Indian markets. The platform serves over 900 million users through a distributed network of local reporters and partnerships with major brands to reach audiences in remote areas.

Also known as Behtar Technology Private Limited · Next Billion Tech Private Limited, Behtar Technology Private Limited · Behtar Technology Private Limited - Product= 'Lokal'

Consumer Marketplaces Media & Entertainment Social Social MediaIndiaSouth AsiaPartly Remote

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (S19)

Lokal was founded in 2018 by Vipul Chaudhary and Jani Pasha.

Vipul Chaudhary Co-Founder & CTOVipul Chaudhary has a background in microelectronics engineering and worked at Qualcomm. He has built internet products since his college years and developed full-stack development skills independently, with exposure to machine learning.

Jani Pasha Co-Founder and CEOJani Pasha founded Lokal in 2018, starting with the hypothesis that users in tier-2 and tier-3 Indian towns would engage with localized content in their native languages. The platform evolved from a single app into a portfolio of regional-language internet products serving non-English speaking audiences across rural and smaller urban markets.

Alberto MorelliFounder

Gabriel LyonFounder

Nicolas SarquisFounder

Jani pasha Co-Founder and CEO

Investors · 9

3one4 Capital✓ confirmed by LokalBengaluru

How we know: the company's own site · 3one4 Capital's portfolio page · the VCSheet dataset · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

India Quotient✓ confirmed by LokalBengaluru

How we know: India Quotient's portfolio page · the company's own site · the VCSheet dataset · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Soma Capital✓ confirmed by LokalSacramento · $100K – $300K

How we know: the company's own site · somacap.com · Not right? Tell us

Y Combinator✓ confirmed by LokalSan Francisco · $500K

How we know: the company's own site · the Y Combinator directory · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

Capria Ventureslisted by Capria VenturesSeattle · $300K – $1M

Global Brainlisted by Global BrainTokyo · $100K

How we know: Global Brain's portfolio page · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Sony Ventures Corporationlisted by Sony Ventures CorporationTokyo

How we know: the VCSheet dataset · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Z Nation Lab Growthlisted by Z Nation Lab Growth

Tencent HoldingsreportedShenzhen

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Funding

SEC filings, press & company announcements

Undisclosed amountSeries BApr 2023
Source ↗

Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.

Related companies · 6

Smule

AudmAudm is a mobile app that converts lengthy journalism articles into narrated audio content using professional voice talent, allowing users to consume written news in audio format.

NewsBlurNewsBlur is a news reader and content aggregation platform that trains on user preferences to deliver personalized news feeds from any website with RSS or webpage monitoring. It offers native mobile apps, AI-powered summarization and analysis, full-text search, and real-time notifications for subscribers.

Hindustan TimesHindustan Times is a news publication that reports on current events, covering topics such as national and regional news.

BlumaBluma is a platform for creating short-form video content optimized for social media formats like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. It serves creators, agencies, and performance marketing teams seeking to produce ads, UGC-style videos, and social-ready content at scale with fewer tools and faster iteration.

Tell if AITell If AI builds autonomous content systems for brands, leveraging deep learning and multimodal AI technologies.

Companies working in the same space as Lokal.

Legal entities · 2

corporate structure

Behtar Technology Private Limited

Next Billion Tech Private Limited, Behtar Technology Private Limited

Frequently asked questions

What does Lokal do?: Lokal is a vernacular hyperlocal platform providing local news, classifieds, and job listings to non-English speaking users across rural and tier 2+ Indian markets. The platform serves over 900 million users through a distributed network of local reporters and partnerships with major brands to reach audiences in remote areas.
Who founded Lokal?: Lokal was founded by Vipul Chaudhary, Jani Pasha in 2018.
Who are Lokal's investors?: Lokal's investors include 3one4 Capital, India Quotient, Soma Capital, Y Combinator, Capria Ventures, Global Brain, Sony Ventures Corporation, Z Nation Lab Growth and 1 more.
Where is Lokal headquartered?: Lokal is headquartered in Bengaluru, IN.