- One of the fastest growing social audio platform, Headfone, owned and operated by Diacoustic Labs Private Limited, on Tuesday, announced that it has raised INR 22 Cr. as a part of its Series-A round led by Hashed, a South Koren based VC firm and Seung Yoon Lee, founder of Radish Fiction. Also participating in this round are existing investors Axilor Ventures and Fosun RZ Capital. The capital infused will be utilised to fuel up the business and operations

Founded in 2017 by former Facebook software engineers, Pratham Khandelwal and Yogesh Sharma, Headfone is a social audio platform where anyone can record, share, and listen to audios stories. Since its launch in 2017, Headfone’s android app has been downloaded by over 50 lakh users across India. Approximately 70% of this base is distributed across Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, where appetite for vernacular stories seems to be fueling growth for Headfone. With over 1 lakh creators creating and sharing audio content across multiple Indian languages, Headfone provides a platform to local storytelling talent across India and takes their creation to the masses.

Talking about the funds raised, Pratham Khandelwal, CEO of Headfone, said “This round of funding has been really encouraging and we welcome the contribution made by our partners in Hashed, Seung Yoon Lee from Radish and our existing investors. Audio content is very different from video or text content because of how easy it is to engage with. The fact that we can engage with it while we perform other tasks makes it particularly appealing to consume throughout the day. The audio format is also special in a way that you as the listener become part of the story. On Headfone too, listeners love to become part of Horror, Fantasy and Romantic stories.”

Young generations in India are sharing stories and discovering creators they love through Headfone

This round marks the first investment of Hashed, a South Korea based Investment firm, in India. Founded in 2018, Hashed has invested in marquee startups in South Korea such as Terra, a cryptocurrency startup, and Chai, the fastest payment app in South Korea. This round also marks the first Indian investment by angel investor Seung Yoon Lee. Seung Yoon Lee founded Radish Fiction, a serialized fiction startup based out of the US that has already raised USD 60M+ and boasts an impressive user base in the USA.

Speaking on the investment, Seung Yoon Lee, CEO of Radish, added “ With stellar growth numbers of both creators and listeners in their community, Headfone team is well-positioned to take the lead in the Indian audio market. I’ve been very impressed by their nuanced understanding of the space and their strong execution in serialized content production. I am excited to work with the team on creating India’s leading audio platform.”

Simon Seojoon Kim, CEO of Hashed, added “When a social app is working, it is often clear in the data. Young generations in India are sharing stories and discovering creators they love through Headfone. In such a diverse country like India in terms of both culture and language, user generated audio contents are bringing the community together to connect.”

Available for Google Play Store users, Headfone helps create and share the audio content with listeners across India. While on one side it connects podcasters, storytellers, artists, musicians and motivational-speakers to passionate listeners but it also works with writers, voice-over artists, sound engineers and musicians to produce original audio series on the platform.