iWorld
Laminar raises $5 million seed funding from investors
MUMBAI: The platform as a service (PaaS) Laminar that enables content owners to launch OTT services raised $5.11 million led by Artha India Ventures (AIV) and Leo Capital. Garuda Ventures, Cloudcap, and Sampson Acquisitions also participated in the round. This raise will accelerate product development and market expansion.
Founded in 2020 by Narendra Nag, Raheel Khursheed, Tirthraj Singh, Kumar Shorav, and Yin Shanyang, the London-based company enables content owners to launch a global OTT service in 12-weeks or less. It takes over the heavy lifting of creating back-end technologies from OTT players so that they can focus on their core business of content creation. Media companies get the ability to customise and launch apps across all classes of devices, set up multiple types of monetization options, meet all tax and compliance requirements, and get a complete data and analytics suite at zero capex. It enabled Chaupal, a leading multi-regional OTT platform from India, to launch in 110 countries in 12 weeks, four times faster than the average industry timeframe.
With an anticipated CAGR of 20 per cent, OTT has entered the mainstream space but needs to outsource the making of complex technologies to over 30 service providers. Laminar allows brands to launch a globally compliant streaming service through its fully managed PaaS offering; all offered under one roof. Moreover, Laminar is solving the pressing domain challenges such as heavy capital investment and set-up costs by providing services on a “pay-as-you-grow” model rather than incurring large upfront capex. Laminar’s current clientele includes Chaupal TV, planet entertainment, and streaming faith brands across two continents.
Laminar co-founder, CEO Narendra Nag said, “Laminar will immensely benefit from the collective experience of our investors in rapidly scaling our business and expanding our global footprint. In Nielsen’s recent ‘State of Play’ report the number of people subscribing to four or more services has more than doubled in the US — this is a secular trend around the world. Such growth will only accelerate as consumers coalesce around (and pay for) content that speaks to their cultural reality.”
Artha India Ventures director Anirudh A Damani said, “This is our 1st significant investment in Europe, and we are glad that it is in Laminar. Laminar gives content creators the backbone to challenge the duopoly of Netflix & Amazon Prime by building the world’s first zero code cloud-based PaaS offering. We were pleasantly surprised by the width of their client base that needs Laminar to solve their pressing issue. Because they let OTT content providers focus on their core business – creating content!
“Moreover, we see immense potential in the OTT-enabler ecosystem and are glad that we backed the best team for a PaaS offering in the segment.”
Leo Capital founding partner Rajul Garg said, “Media companies can see content consumption rapidly shifting away from cable, satellite, and DTH worldwide. Laminar has timed this industry transition beautifully with a product that is ready today for media companies who don’t want to spend time and money re-inventing the wheel, and we are excited to partner with them to help create the next global leader in the media-tech space.”
Laminar has a presence in London, Toronto, Wroclaw, Dubai, New Delhi, and Singapore. It has an engineering team based out of Wroclaw and Barcelona.
iWorld
Anirudh Ravichander and Universal Music India join forces to take South India’s sound to the world
The composer behind 13 billion streams launches Albuquerque Records with UMI as its exclusive global partner
MUMBAI: Universal Music India has struck an exclusive partnership with Albuquerque Records, the freshly minted independent label of singer-composer Anirudh Ravichander, in a deal that bets big on South India’s booming pop and hip-hop scene going global.
The arrangement, announced on 17 March, will see Universal Music India handle future pop and hip-hop releases by Anirudh himself, as well as artists signed to the new label. A first release is already in the pipeline for April, featuring Anirudh.
The numbers behind the man are hard to ignore. Debuting in 2012 with the viral sensation “Why This Kolaveri Di”, Anirudh has since clocked over 13 billion audio streams across more than 770 tracks, cementing his position as the No.1 South Indian artist on Spotify by total streams. His fingerprints are all over some of the Tamil film industry’s biggest musical moments, from Hukum and Vaathi Coming to Arabic Kuthu and the A23 Theme.
But Albuquerque Records is a different beast. Built for the non-film space, it is designed to nurture independent talent and champion the next wave of Indian pop voices. “Universal Music India’s leadership in pop and hip-hop made them the natural partner,” said Anirudh. “I’m excited to take independent voices to audiences around the world.”
Universal Music India’s chairman and CEO Devraj Sanyal was equally effusive. “Anirudh represents the future of Indian music, bold, original, and with enormous potential,” he said. “Identifying transformative talent is our superpower, and this partnership reflects that belief.”
Sanujeet Bhujabal, managing director of Universal Music India, framed the deal as more than a distribution play. “Albuquerque Records represents Anirudh’s bold artistic vision in the world of pop and hip-hop,” he said. “True to his legacy of innovation, this partnership is set to establish yet another landmark creative space, this time for the emerging world of iPop and beyond.”
For Universal Music India, the deal deepens a long-running push into South India’s four key language markets: Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. The label already has regional imprints, film partnerships with Maddock Films and Excel Entertainment, and a growing non-film roster. Landing Anirudh, arguably the south’s most bankable music brand, is a statement of intent. South Indian music has the streams. Now it is coming for the world.
