ISN Exclusive: Shark Tank fame OTT platform Stage in talks to raise funds in a new round

Neeraj Chopra-backed Stage, commonly touted as the Netflix for Bharat, is in discussions with venture capital (VC) funds, including US-based Goodwater Capital and others, to raise around $7-$9 million (about Rs 56-72 crore) in a fresh and its largest-ever funding round, sources familiar with the development told Indian Startup News (ISN).

Existing investors like Blume Ventures and others will also participate in the round to retain their ownership in the company, sources added

Neeraj Chopra-backed Stage, commonly touted as the Netflix for Bharat, is in discussions with venture capital (VC) funds, including US-based Goodwater Capital and others, to raise around $7-$9 million (about Rs 56-72 crore) in a fresh and its largest-ever funding round, sources familiar with the development told Indian Startup News (ISN).

Existing investors like Blume Ventures and others will also participate in the round to retain their ownership in the company, sources added. Stage and Goodwater Capital did not reply to ISN’s email.

What does Stage do?

Stage is a hyperlocal video entertainment platform, an OTT or over-the-top media service like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar and several others. It is a dialect based platform which has created a niche for itself by tapping viewers largely in Haryana and Rajasthan belt and others who prefer watching content in Haryanvi and Rajasthani.

Stage had shot to fame when it pitched to investors on Shark Tank season 3 and received funding from Lenskart’s Peyush Bansal, Boat’s Aman Gupta and Emcure Pharma’s Namita Thapar in 2023.

At that time, on the show, founders including Vinay Singhal and others, had said that the company has more than 1.3 lakh subscribers who pay Rs 400 per year to consume content on Stage.

In FY23, Stage had seen its revenue fall to Rs 2.94 crore from Rs 3.87 crore recorded in FY22, as per data available on Tracxn. Its losses widened from Rs 1.06 crore to Rs 2.3 crore during the same period, data showed.

While Stage is currently focused on Haryana and Rajasthan, it will likely use the fresh capital to enter new geographies.

“We have identified 20 different dialects in which we will launch shows and content over the next five years,” co-founder and CEO Vinay Singal said while pitching on Indian reality show Shark Tank.

The founders had pitched for a valuation of Rs 300 crore ($36 million) for Stage and raised money at Rs 250 crore, a rare feat for a startup that pitches on the show. In several cases, companies otherwise raise money at less than 50% of their desired valuation.

“We’re betting on you (the founders), otherwise your business model is loss-making,” Peyush Bansal, founder of Lenskart, said just before making an investment in the company.

Stage has raised over Rs 100 crore since its inception in 2019 from 150 backers, including institutional investors and angels, Tracxn data showed.