Video format and related social media apps have created a wave on the internet, especially during the coronavirus lockdown. Moreover, with the ban on TikTok, Indian apps made their way to people's phone thereby garnering a massive interest. One among these apps is Mitron, which since the last few months, has made a mark among the influencers and social media users.
The app has been co-founded by Shivank Agarwal, who, over the past many years, is said to have a passion for creating services around video content. His journey started back in 2011, when he created BufferInfinite and marked his foray as an entrepreneur. Since then, he has grown leaps and bounds in the technology-related offerings.
In the midst of a global pandemic, Shivank Agarwal and his ex Makemytrip colleague Anish Khandelwal joined hands to launch Mitron, a ‘Made in India’ app focused towards showcasing local talent thereby allowing Indians to be entertained by bite-sized videos. While the year 2020 was a challenging for everyone, the team at Mitron was excited as they made their entry into the busy and heavily occupied app world.
Today, Mitron TV today has over 50 million downloads and nine billion video views per month since its launch in April 2020. The app has appealed to Indians from urban India to Tier 2 and 3 markets. The founders' firm belief that an Indian audience should be served by a home-grown app, with data firmly secured on Indian servers, has been successful.
Moreover, in less than a year, Mitron has raised funding of $5 million from Nexus Venture Partners, 3one4 Capital, and others. On the other hand, Shivank's team has grown from two people to 40, who are as passionate about the business.
In an exclusive interview with Mumbai Live, Shivank shares about the new focus of strengthening the app, next set of features and more. Here are the edited excerpts:
Mitron's accomplishments in a year
Mitron has evolved as a leading homegrown short video app in less than a year of its existence with over 40 million downloads. In our first year, we were also able to raise funding of $5 million from 3one4 Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, and others. To create a truly engaging platform for our users, we have on-boarded many influencers who create content across genres. In October, to promote and encourage the Indian app developer community, we launched Atmanirbhar Apps, one of its kind discovery platforms for Indian developers. We are proud to say that we have received a great response for that app and have over 500 homegrown apps listed on it. Recently, Mitron TV was recognised by IAMAI as ‘Most Innovative App’ for the year 2020-2021.
Shivank Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO Mitron
What’s next?
Our focus will now be on making video creation easier so that people without video editing skills can participate more actively. We will also be bringing brands closer to creators to ensure a sustainable revenue model for them. And last but not least, we aim to create more diversity in our video categories.
Revenue Opportunities mapped in one year
Initially, our key focus was on building our app and making it more appealing to our users. In the imminent future, we will also be launching branded content. We are also doing the groundwork to create a sustainable revenue model, which will be put in place as early as the beginning of the new financial year.
Managing the competition from similar apps
For us, a community-first approach has ensured that we create dedicated communities of like-minded people who not only watch videos but interact with each other in a seamless manner. A real social media app should drive people-to-people communication. At Mitron, that is a core value for us.
USP of Mitron
At Mitron we have always been clear about providing an all-inclusive short video platform to our users. While entertainment has always been a key factor for other players, we are focusing on delivering infotainment and edutainment content to our users. We have also launched over 15 content categories which would help content creators to reach a like-minded audience and at the same time give users the freedom to access the content of their choice.
Plans to scale new customers
We are working on getting talented content creators to create varied content for our users. This will not only help in entertaining our existing users but will also lure other people to our app.
Out of India expansion
India is a vast market with huge potential and we want to present ourselves as India’s very own short video platform. We currently plan to strengthen our roots in the country, including tier 2 and 3 markets. Overseas is on the cards, however, not in immediate future.
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