NEW DELHI: A rapidly content-driven business strategy for the future is seeing internet and telephony firms join the race to grab a piece of content creation firms and platforms. Bharti Airtel on Monday announced the acquisition of a strategic stake in Juggernaut Books, which also has a digital platform for amateur writers.
While the firm did not disclose financial details, its statement acknowledged that the investment is in line with its endeavour to build an open content ecosystem and bring world-class digital content to its customers. Juggernaut Books is basically a marketplace platform for amateur writers -- with customers gaining access to high quality, affordable books and opportunity to submit amateur writing. “We look forward to working with them and supporting the next phase of their growth journey,” Bharti Airtel Chief Financial Officer Badal Bagri said, adding that the investment will enable Juggernaut to ramp up content acquisition, digital marketing and prepare for a subscription offering launch in the next few months.
Juggernaut CEO Simran Khara, meanwhile, said the partnership with Airtel will allow the company to expand its distribution manifold. Juggernaut is not a stranger to high-profile investors, counting among its former investors Infosys co-founder and current chairman Nandan Nilekani and Boston Consulting Group India CEO Neeraj Aggarwal. Launched in April 2016, the platform currently boasts of close to a million downloads across Android and iOS smartphones.
Meanwhile, the amateur writer’s platform, launched in May this year, has received about 500 stories with nine of them securing publishing contracts. Its catalogue includes authors like Twinkle Khanna, Arundhati Roy, Rajdeep Sardesai and others.