Glance raises $145 million from Google and Mithril Capital

Lock screen platform Glance on Tuesday said it has raised $145 million in funding from Google and existing investor Mithril Capital. A subsidiary of the InMobi Group, Glance also owns short video platform Roposo.

The company said it will use the fresh funds to expand in key markets across Asia and the US besides deploying parts of it to launch new services and broaden its technology team. A good chunk of the capital will also be deployed to deepen AI capability across Glance and Roposo.

Glance delivers AI-driven personalised content in varied languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, on the lock screen of Android smartphones.

The firm claims to have more than 115 million daily active users who spend 25 minutes per day on the platform.

Roposo that offers content across genres in more than 10 languages has more than 33 million monthly active users. The app has been downloaded more than 100 million times on the Google Play store, the company said in a statement. Rival Josh owned by VerSe Innovation also bagged investment from investors, including Google.

“Glance is a great example of innovation solving for mobile-first and mobile-only consumption, serving content across many of India’s local languages,” said Caesar Sengupta, VP, Google.

The investments by Google comes five months after the tech firm said it would invest $10 billion (Rs 75,000 crore) in India via the Google for India Digitisation Fund over the next five to seven years. The funds will flow in through equity infusions and partnerships.