Leadstart Publishing, a media-tech publishing house, distributor, and rights agency platform, raises funding from SucSEED Venture Partners, Hyderabad based Angel Investment Network. This Pre-Series A Fund-raise round of Half a Million USD (more than INR 3 Crore) was also co-invested by Mumbai Angel Network & JITO Angel Network.
The Mumbai based firm, founded by Swarup Nanda, will be using the funds to scale operations, develop technology, and focus on customer acquisition.
Recognized as India’s largest book distribution network and named as the ‘fastest growing publishing company’ by The Week magazine, Leadstart has 10 brands and publishes over 200 titles a year, with imprints and products in all major book categories. Several of their authors have won major literary prizes such as the Padma Bhushan, Sahitya Akademi Award, Vodafone Crossword Awards, various State literary awards and the Jnanpith Award, as well as regularly being long listed for other awards including the Man Asian Literary Prize.
Commenting on the fund raise, Swarup Nanda, CEO & Founder – Leadstart Publishing said “ It was an excellent experience working with SucSEED, which has an investor base of senior techies, accomplished professionals and entrepreneurs. Their process time was the shortest and evaluation of the product the deepest. It was an absolute pleasure working with them. We look forward to deeper engagement with our investors for advisory and mentoring support as well. We shall be using the funds to scale up operations, develop and deploy tech, along with customer acquisitions.
Speaking on why SucSEED has invested in LeadStart Publishing, Saurabh Sharma, an Active Investor, with SucSEED, said “Leadstart Publishing is utilizing technology driven, just-in-time printing, improvements in the content based on reader feedback and a unique approach to DIY for authors to self-publish.”
“They bring in novelty of idea, uniqueness and a network of smart, passionate team that wants to bring art and literature with improvements in the readers hands!”
Vikrant Varshney, Cofounder & Partner, SucSEED, said “ Leadstart Publishing features distinguished authors and writing from across the globe. The number of books published is over 950 from 800+ authors as of May-2019. They are targeting to publish 2300 books in this fiscal year. We see them playing a big role, considering content is emerging as Key for Publishing, entertainment and OTT Sector. Leadstart has had initial success and this funding could help them achieve sustainable revenue streams too”.