[Funding]: Digital Media Firm Rusk Media raises seed fund from InfoEdge Ventures and others

Rusk Media is a premium digital brand. The media company has raised an undisclosed amount from InfoEdge Venture Fund, Sprout Venture Partners and an undisclosed institutional investor.

About Rusk Media

Rusk creates premium, tailor-made content for the GenZ and Millennial smartphone audiences. It owns four content brands under the names- Alright, Hattke, Recharge, and LIT. They have massive viewership across their profiles on social platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc.

Over the last year, the company has been able to grow its viewership by 20x to 300M monthly views. The core focus has always been to create an actively engaged digital community which is reflected in the engagement metrics of over 20% of all viewers. Owing to high engagement and viewership, they have worked with notable advertisers like Ab-InBev, Dominos, Kingfisher, P&G for in-video and native advertising.

Rusk started in May 2019. It has a 100-member strong team, with a strong background in content, marketing, and tech. It headquartered in Delhi and other offices coming up in Mumbai.

About the deal

Meanwhile, in a stock exchange filing, internet services company Info Edge (India) Ltd, which operates InfoEdge Venture Fund, said it has agreed to invest Rs 3.5 crore (approximately $462,779 at current exchange rates) in Rusk Media for a 10% stake on a fully converted and diluted basis.

The Rs 100 crore IE Venture Fund I invest in companies that provide technology to create, market and distribute products and services. Also, the typical sweet spot of the fund is said to be between $500,000 and $5 million.

With this fundraise, the startup aims to build distinctive digital entertainment solutions. It will bolster video production and custom content capabilities. Rusk aims to be the largest new age media and entertainment organization in India with a clear focus on surpassing 1Bn monthly views by 2020. Subsequently, it aims to reach to one in three digital video viewers by 2021.