Inshorts Success Story: Get your Daily Dose of News in 60 Words or less

Inshorts Success Story

Nowadays, we barely have time to relax and read the paper because of our hectic schedules and long work hours. However, you must be informed about recent issues all around the globe.

So, are you someone who used to read news articles daily but now is missing out on the most important news? Guess what Inshorts has a solution for you. They have built a news app that delivers news in under 60 words, with the most important information and it has no room for opinion or narration.

Presenting to you a tale of how simple ideas can turn into successful startups.

About Inshorts

Inshorts, one of the most popular Indian news app aggregates news, infographics, and blog posts into a 60-word summary. It began as a Facebook page and was formed by 3 IIT dropouts in 2013. This firm is situated in Delhi and specializes in information access and distribution. The app has been accessible to Android smartphones since 2013, and for iPhones since 2015.

Inshorts - Company Highlights

Operating Status-Active
IPO Status-Private
Company Type-For Profit
Sector-Digital Media, Internet, Mobile App, News
Headquarters-Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Founders-Azhar Iqubal, Deepit Purkayastha, and Anunay Arunav
Founded-2015
Total Funding-$164.9 Million
Last Funding Type-Venture - Series Unknown
Legal name-Inshorts MediaLabs Pvt. Limited
Website-inshorts.com

Inshorts – Latest News
15 July 2021

Inshorts, which also owns the location-based social networking site Public, has garnered $140 million so far this year from backers such as Addition, Tiger Global, SIG, A91, and Tanglin Venture Partners.

18 May 2021

Public acquired Rs 300 crore in investment capital thanks to a customer base of over 50 million and a vernacular market that is ready for the grabbing. The ad-supported short clip app may be the likely winner for parent company Inshorts, but competitors with more diverse income sources are closing in.

24 March 2021

Public App secures $41 million, bringing its total worth to $250 million. It plans to use the funds to expand its infrastructure, material, and hire additional workers.

Inshorts – Founders

Azhar Iqubal (CEO)

Deepit Purkayastha

Anunay Arunav

Inshorts – Startup story

Three IIT Delhi colleagues devised a scheme to develop an app that could summarise news items in 60 words or less. This is a one-of-a-kind innovation. Users of Inshorts were not previously newspaper subscribers or loyal readers of other news items.

Inshorts drew in a whole new audience. The audience was probably not in the habit of reading news and was falling behind the news adoption curve because they didn't have the time to read the extended format. So, this market always existed, although there was no rand to serve it, and that is what their idea addressed.

They created a technology that was appropriate for that market. They effectively built a new audience for themselves that had not been targeted by the traditional news players digitally.

Inshorts – Vision, and Mission

Their vision is to create an educated world by delivering relevant knowledge to people in perhaps the simplest format possible, which they call Shorts.

Inshorts – Tagline, and Logo

The company's tagline is "Stay Informed," which explains the app's stance. To stay updated with current affairs, readers only need to devote a small amount of time. It only takes a swipe on the screen to acquire crisp information in a paragraph or 60 words.

The logo can indeed be interpreted as (N I S), which is a three-row Morse Code acronym for News In Shorts.

Inshorts – Launch and Marketing Strategy

Before introducing any product, they initially started their Facebook page, whereby they used to provide 10 news articles per day, each summarised in 60 words, as their first service. They gained a large number of likes. They shared the same information over WhatsApp and other social networking sites.

People began to use and like that service, and follow their page. They also requested their pals to encourage other folks to like their posts, presenting them with the very first wave of validation.

They also received a response in the form of comments that highlighted the notion of releasing a smartphone app for that. The users, not the founders, conceived the idea for the app. It was a bit of a one-on-one, manual promotion exercise.

Inshorts – Business Model

Inshorts has a fairly straightforward business plan. It offers its readers a concise summary of the day's top relevant news in less than 60 words. This condensed version refers to the original plot.

Based on its ability to deliver news with catchy headlines and 60-word summaries, Inshorts is quickly growing. People are overworked, so they miss important events like the Annual Budget, finance, and economic news, sports, and other political news. Inshorts, which uses AI called ‘Rapid60' to post stories and narrative cards, was created to keep folks informed about current events.

So, the goal is to pique readers' attention and persuade them to spend 5 min a day on their app. Inshorts' over 4 million subscribers currently receive updates through push notifications.

Inshorts – Revenue Model

Inshorts make money via sponsored content and advertisements. Narrative cards, similar to multiple-image posts (just like Instagram feature) in that they communicate promotional data and insights about a specific issue, are generated by the application.

Ads are also a means for Inshorts to make money. Swiping any 60-word piece will bring you to a new section where you can read the entire article. This page includes advertisements that appear as pop-ups and banners on the publisher's website.

Ads on Inshorts

Inshorts generates revenues as a content aggregator by driving users to publishers' websites and also through advertising commissions.

Inshorts – Challenges encountered in the early stage

They made the error of trying to develop too much and launch too little. They spent a year developing a product that they never released or sold. As a result, they were unaware of how the market was functioning. They finally learned they were creating a service rather than a product. That's how they figured it out.

You learn things from your mistakes. How do you prove that you desire to do something? How can you distill a product's core elements then execute and test it at an early stage? How can you cut down on the time it takes to launch your product on the market? So these were the difficulties they had to deal with.

Inshorts – People App

Based on current trends, there is always a potential for more inventive ideas in the news and information arena. Nowadays, internet penetration is a major market trend, and new opportunities are being created. In 2019, they released a product named "Public," which became the top downloaded app around the world. On the PlayStore, it's also a top-rated news app. This app is for hyperlocal matters, so if you live in Mumbai, you can use it to find out what's going on in the city, and it's also there in their local dialect. So, while this possibility didn't exist when the company was founded, it does now, and that app has a considerably larger user base than Inshorts.

Inshorts – Funding

Throughout nine series of investments, Inshorts has achieved a turnover of $164.9 million.

On July 15, 2021, they raised funds from a Venture-Series Unknown round.

Inshorts is backed by a group of ten investors. Vy Capital and Tanglin Venture Partners are their latest investors.

Inshorts – Merger & Acquisitions

Betaglide, a Bangalore-based web analytics startup, was acquired by Inshorts in October 2015. Retention.ai was designed by the firm to track application uninstallations to improve client retention, and the software was then incorporated into Inshorts.

Inshorts – Competitors

Several e-newspaper apps exist, but they aren't as efficient or time-saving as Inshorts. Dailyhunt, TOI, and others are among Inshorts' rivals. Dailyhunt has always been its biggest rival.

Inshorts – Future plans

In terms of Inshorts' summarised version of the news service's growth, the firm strives to enhance its news providing to other local dialects. Inshorts can create higher ad revenue by incorporating more dialects and aggregating more user views. Inshorts may consider diversifying globally in the future, in addition to offering local news. Simultaneously, Inshorts will work to expand the Public's clientele.