New Delhi startup GIFkaro raises $250,000 in angel funding for its product portfolio expansion

Launched in June 2017 by Arpit Kumar, Puneet Kalra, and Dinesh Kumar, New Delhi-based startup GIFkaro plans to utilise the angel round of funding for its product portfolio expansion. GIFkaro, a New Delhi-based GIF content startup, has announced that it has raised $250K from angel investors including Pranay Gupta (ex Snapchat and current Google employee), and Dr Ekika Singh, a top gynaecologist and infertility specialist, among others. Launched in June 2017 by Arpit Kumar, Puneet Kalra and Dinesh Kumar, GIFkaro allows users to create, watch, and download funny GIFs. It provides an editing tool through its app to create a short GIF in multiple languages including Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, and English. Users can also download any GIF available on the platform for free to share it on Facebook, and WhatsApp. The app is currently available for Android users, having more than 40,000 downloads so far. GIFkaro plans to utilise the angel round of funding for its product portfolio expansion. It has recently introduced a new app named ‘Invitekaro’ for creating customised GIF wedding invitations. The startup said due to its 'custom animation engine', it takes less than 43 seconds for its app to create a design preview for the user. It combines multiple layers of animations into one, in real time, to come up with the perfect personalised GIF card. User can make these cards highly personalised by adding their own videos to these invitations. The app also provides designers a "gig" opportunity to submit and monetise their designs on InviteKaro. Speaking on how his company is trying to simplify Indian weddings, Arpit Kumar, Founder, InviteKaro said,“Invitekaro removes the hassle of going out, picking a card, finding a nearby courier and mailing the wedding cards. It allows you better services from the spacious comfort of your home, where you can relax, pick a design that best represents who you are, how you would want the wedding to be like, add your own videos to it, and that’s that. Go to the social media of your choice and start shooting invites. Paper cards might continue to survive but digital is the present, and it is important to think beyond.” According to investor Pranay Gupta,"I've always believed that the Indian digital app ecosystem has a lot of potential, We need innovative India-first plays. When I met Arpit, Puneet and Dinesh, I was pleasantly surprised to find that we shared a common vision around this. What they've built is truly remarkable. GIFkaro will light the Indian casual content ecosystem on fire. InviteKaro is a trailblazer and will forever change how wedding invitations are done," In the past 18 months, the company has completed more than a billion impressions through its GIFkaro APIs on its partners (Microsoft, Dailyhunt, Shareit, Airtel, and others) channels.