KOLKATA: ALTBalaji has acquired 17.5 per cent stake in the online celebrity digital engagement platform, Tring. With this investment, Tring’s valuation rose to about Rs 100 crore in the short period since its inception earlier this year.
The celebrity shout-out and engagement platform was started in February 2020 by Akshay Saini, Rahul Saini and Pranav Chabhadia. Tring has over 2000+ celebrities and offers a wide range of digital services like personalized video shoutouts/messages, live video calls, DMs on Instagram, etc. for two-way engagement between celebs and their fans.
As part of this transaction, ALTBalaji will be entitled to appoint one board member to represent them on the board of B. D. Inno Ventures Pvt. Ltd. (the parent company of Tring). The investment reinforces ALTBalaji’s presence in the lucrative celebrity commerce business in India.
Commenting on the new development, Balaji Telefilms Ltd joint managing director Ekta Kapoor said, “Having been in the business of entertainment for more than two decades now, we value the bond between celebrities and their fans. Both ALTBalaji and Tring work with talent and try to bring them a step closer to their fans and vice-versa. We believe this synergy will work in favour of both the brands and help each other widen our reach.”
Balaji Telefilms Ltd managing director Shobha Kapoor said, “This investment in Tring allows us to better connect with audiences across India. The team at Tring has done a tremendous job in such a short period, and we are confident that with our investment and support, they will scale much faster, bringing audiences closer to the celebrities they adore.”
Speaking on this investment round, Tring co-founder Akshay Saini said Balaji’s investment in Tring will help the platform continue its market penetration and better reach the masses. “We have just begun, it is day one,” he added.
Tring’s existing investors include ace-photographer and movie producer Atul Kasbekar, along-with industry-leaders and super angel investors viz. Kalyan Krishnamurthy CEO Flipkart, Sujeet Kumar CEO Udaan, Gaurav Munjal CEO Unacademy, Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh, Sumit Jain, Dinesh Godara (Founding team Unacademy), Keshav Sanghi (Ventureworks India), Dalbir Saini (Chairman BDI Group) amongst others.
