Who doesn’t like to invest in lifestyle platforms?

Founded in the year 2012 by Suchita Salwan and Dhruv Mathur, Little Black Book (LBB) is a Delhi-based media-tech startup for discovering local cultural and lifestyle recommendation guide that includes restaurants, shopping, adventure, travel and events in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida.

LBB raises $1.2 million of funding from IDG Ventures and Indian Angel Network.  Last year, LBB had secured a seed funding of $150,000 from many investors including Rajan Anandan of Google India and Sachin Bhatia of MakeMyTrip. It will utilize the recent funds in technology expansion and talent acquisition accompanied with extending its base to five more cities in India. Currently, LBB’s website and app is available in Delhi and Bangalore. The app is available in both, iOS and Android version.

Little Black Book innovatively provides unique neighboring discoveries by using content as a medium to keep their audience glued on the platform. The startup has partnered with renowned brands like Coca Cola, Airbnb, HTC, Samsung and Nestle.

The local discovery market seems to be booming since such apps like Shouut, Living Local, GoYaNo and OUWT are recently receiving a lot of funding. Within just about 8 months, this unique platform witnessed over 800% growth in monthly active users and around 600% growth in revenue. Little Black Book claims to currently have 600,000 monthly users via their website and have further plans to reach out to over 1million users every month.

Takeaways:

• LBB raises $1.2 million of funding from IDG Ventures and Indian Angel Network.
• It will utilize the recent funds in technology expansion and talent acquisition accompanied with extending its base to five more cities in India.
• Little Black Book innovatively provides unique neighbouring discoveries by using content as a medium to keep their audience glued on the platform.

Press Release:

LBB is the first investment from IDGVI’s Digital Consumer Innovators Program
Little Black Book, a media-tech enterprise based out of New Delhi, has raised $1.2
million from IDG Ventures India and Indian Angel Network. Reaching out to over 1
million users every month, Little Black Book is currently available in Delhi and
Bangalore as a website and app, and gives a local audience the best things to do in
their city across interests and locations.
Little Black Book (LBB) curates recommendations across categories, providing
unique local discoveries in innovative formats. An evolution from existing listingbased
models, LBB uses content as a medium to drive an engaged audience to
local enterprises, places and experiences. They partner with local small to medium
scale brands as well as large global brands looking to engage with a local audience
including Coca Cola, Airbnb, HTC, Samsung, Nestle.
Founded by Suchita Salwan, an Economics graduate from Hindu College who has
worked with Wizcraft and the BBC, and co-founded by Dhruv Mathur, a Carnegie
Mellon graduate who has worked with Deloitte and on his own startup GetFBPay.in,
Little Black Book has seen tremendous organic growth stemming from a strong
product market fit. “We have proven that urban consumers want to move beyond
traditional Yelp-esque listing and aggregator platforms; they seek more than just
food and event discoveries. As a media-tech business, our north star has been
driving not just monthly active users, but delivering a product that draws a highly
engaged and sticky audience” says Suchita.
Karan Mohla, Executive Director and Head of Consumer Tech & Media at IDG
Ventures “LBB represents the type of new-age disruptive digital media company
that we as venture investors are excited to partner with. LBB has created an
immersive and engaged platform for consumers and brands across Delhi and
Bangalore today and expanding that to five more cities in the near future. Suchita
and Dhruv are the foundational cornerstones of this exciting company and have
demonstrated great focus and passion to build out a strong technology platform.”
Little Black Book raised a seed round in May 2015, with prolific angels including
Rajan Anandan (MD Google Asia), Sachin Bhatia (co-founder MakeMyTrip,
TrulyMadly) and Niraj Singh (co-founder Outbox Ventures, Spinny) participating. In just about 8 months since, LBB has seen over 800% growth in monthly active users
and over 600% growth in revenue.
The company’s vision is to connect urban consumers to the best things to do, for
them, in their city. “We’re excited to build out a platform that intelligently
recommends experiences that are suited to a unique users tastes and preferences.
Personalization and user retention is our key focus with respect to product” adds
Dhruv.
Rishabh Mehta, one of the lead investor in this round and IAN nominated Board
Director has this to say- “What is interesting about LBB is that their unit economics is
just brilliant. With a small team and minimal burn they have been able to build a
pretty impressive brand image for themselves. Considering the fact that they have
over 1 million users engaged across just 2 cities, now the potential is huge for
scaling up not only in India but globally.”
Find Little Black Book at LBB.IN. App available on Android and iOS.