News portal The Better India raises Rs 10 million in angel funding from Intellecap

Intellecap Impact Investment Network has announced an investment of Rs 10 million in Bangalore based positive news website The Better India.

"Led by a husband and wife duo Dhimant and Anuradha Parekh, The Better India drives collective good using the power of stories and technology. While conventional news sources continue to focus on sensational crime and corruption-filled headlines," said the press statement.

The Better India publishes narratives of unsung heroes, change makers, innovations, educators, women empowerment, history, arts & culture, social development, etc. and urges readers to contribute. The company has won several awards, including the Manthan Award for Best Alternative News Site across South Asia.

Lead investor Raveen Sastry, Founder, NudgeSpot and Co-founder, Myntra, said, "Today, The Better India has more than 100 writers contributing from all over India, a highly engaged community on Facebook and Twitter, and over 500,000 visitors on its website every month. The company is disrupting news reading behavior, and very smartly leveraging media and technology to monetize this in different ways."

Co-founder Dhimant Parekh, an ISB graduate and serial entrepreneur, added, "We are seeing excellent traction for our content from readers across India, US, UK, Singapore and the Middle East. More importantly, we are catalyzing on-ground social impact by sharing positive news. Our growing partnerships with large corporates have demonstrated that companies see tremendous value in using our platform to talk about various social causes. We are quickly scaling up traffic, plan to raise our next round of funding in 12 months, and look forward to creating a long-term strategic partnership with a large media or publishing house."

In a unique move, Intellecap has taken an equity stake in The Better India in lieu of its fees. Aditi Shrivastava, Head of I3N (Intellecap Impact Investment Network), confirmed, "This investment helps us demonstrate our skin in the game with the angels and management team. It also adds a kicker to the conventional advisory business model. We have built a good track record with 10 investments in I3N, and might consider raising a start-up fund soon."

A small investment also comes from Sohil Shah, one of Intellecap's employees, demonstrating how the startup world is creating opportunities for young talent to measure their success in different ways. "In addition to working closely with brilliant entrepreneurs on a daily basis, this is one of the perks of being part of the Intellecap ecosystem. We are trying to find businesses that can leverage the current startup frenzy while creating impact at the grassroots, and The Better India is a perfect example." said Sohil.

I3N informed that it is seeing fast growth in angels and wantto invest in impact, and is inviting interested investors to participate in their next enterprise showcase at the Sankalp Summit on April 10 in Delhi. The Better India and 12 other impact enterprises across waste management, healthcare, clean water, agri, etc. will also compete in the prestigious Sankalp Entrepreneurship Awards judged by a high profile Jury at the Summit.