Set up six months ago, TrueFan connects Indian fans with top celebrities through personalised, interactive experiences.
TrueFan, a celebrity-fan engagement startup, has raised $4.3 million in seed funding from film producer-entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala and venture firms Saama Capital and Mayfield India.
Founded by Nimish Goel, Nevaid Aggarwal and Devender Bindal in January 2020, TrueFan plans to connect Indian fans with top celebrities through personalised, interactive experiences.
Platform users answer simple questions around celebrities in quizzes and winners get a personalised video message from those stars.
CEO Goel says he is a fan of Virat Kohli and had gate-crashed a wedding to meet the Indian cricket team captain, pointing out how passionate many fans are.
"When Nimish approached me on TrueFan, three things struck me—firstly, any product-driven by technology is going to soar in the 2020 decade. Secondly, this is the perfect blend of gamification meets media meets content. Thirdly, the simplicity of the idea allows the product to seep through the wide, Indian user-base. For me, it is ideas like these that will really stay the course," Screwvala said in a statement.
Screwvala, who owns RSVP Movies production house, is fairly active in the startup space as well. He is the cofounder of the education startup upGrad and also has an investment firm, Unilazer Ventures.The celebrity-fan engagement market in India has huge growth potential, Mayfield India Managing Director Nikhil Khattau said. “TrueFan had successfully on-boarded some of the topmost celebrities with an innovative business model,” he said.