MAM
Swizzle gets a seed funding boost to bolster its Mocktails’ range
Mumbai: Bengaluru-based new-age beverage startup Swizzle – pioneering provider of Made-in-India mocktails crafted entirely with natural ingredients – has announced raising an undisclosed amount in seed funding from multiple angel investors. The recently-concluded equity-based seed investment round was led by Swizzle’s existing investor Mrs. Monika Rao, and witnessed participation from another prior investor Dr. Akshay Singhal, Founder & CEO, of Log9 Materials; while the new investors of this round include Deepak Gambhir and Sri Harsha Thota. Swizzle had, back in 2022, raised its first funding round, the proceeds from which has been spent by the startup towards product development and obtaining product-market fit. Till date, the startup has raised cumulative funding of over Rs one crore.
The newly acquired seed capital shall enable Swizzle to promote its exciting new range of premium canned mocktails on a grand scale in the near future. Moreover, the startup plans to use the funds towards team building (hiring skilled and talented people across sales, distribution, marketing, and other roles), inventory enhancement (building up more inventory to increase in-store product availability and meet surging demand), quality control (maintenance of premium, high-level standards across the production value chain), and expansion of its distribution network (optimizing logistics, partnerships, and systems in order to ensure smooth and widespread availability of Swizzle mocktails, especially on the retail side). Additionally, a significant portion of these funds shall also be allocated towards marketing and brand-building initiatives such as online and offline campaigns, pop-ups and events, branded packaging and collateral creation, and so on, with the end-goal of increasing brand awareness and reaching a wider potential user base.
Speaking about the fundraise, Swizzle co-founders Vrinda Singhal and Deepender Singh said, “We are super excited to announce our latest seed fundraise, which marks a pivotal milestone in Swizzle’s journey, and catalyses our mission of revolutionizing the beverage industry in India. It allows us to introduce our line-up of refreshing mocktail products to a wide audience across both the B2C and B2B segments, and establish a strong presence across retail locations. By August 2024, we aim to be accessible in more than 1000 locations and plan to extend our reach to several new cities across the nation, thus bolstering our distribution network. And the latest funds raised shall play an instrumental role in achieving this goal through implementing effective marketing and go-to-market strategies, thereby propelling us forward to experience accelerated growth in the years to come, and helping us become the preferred choice for more and more beverage enthusiasts across India.”
Rao said, “Swizzle has demonstrated a unique ability to innovate and bring to market a range of high quality mixers. Their revamped hip and cool branding and packaging will help them scale and acquire the upwardly mobile young customer base across Tier 1 cities. This category is still young and favours ready to consume innovative products. Swizzle is placed uniquely to capture this market segment”.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
