Qyuki, a digital broadcast network, backed by music composer A R Rahman and Bollywood producer Shekhar Kapur, is raising around $10 million (₹60 crore) from a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund focused around media.

The company, which was re-launched in 2012, said it will be closing the deal in three to four weeks from now.

Leveraging technology

Samir Bangara, Co-founder and Managing Director, Qyuki, said the company has already signed a term-sheet and is in an advanced stage to raise funds that will be used to expand its operations, increase headcount, create more formats and content and rope in more individual artists on its platform.

“We are a media company build of technology. We are leveraging technology to create a digital broadcast network that is not bound by air-time. India is going to become a mobile-only market soon and creating content for consumers using smartphone is a great opportunity,” added Bangara, who joined Qyuki in 2013 by picking up a majority stake in it.

New tie-up

Qyuki offers infrastructure across multiple studios in Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru, with a special studio in Dharavi made to nurture talent in Asia’s largest underprivileged community.

Bangara, the mind behind Indiagames, played a major role in rejigging the business model from being a social media network for budding artists to a platform for artists and creators.

It already has over 200 artists on its platform and is looking at doubling the network in this year. The company has recently tied-up with Los Angeles-based media company Fullscreen, which provides Indian digital content creators with opportunities to monetise and distribute their content and access to production and technology services from both networks.

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