- Pepper Content has raised $14.3 million to expand into the US market.
- It currently works with 2500 clients such as Adani Enterprises, Hindustan Unilever, P&G and others.
- The company founder believes their existing donors will make this international journey much easier given their existing network and expertise.
Content agency Pepper Content has raised a whopping $14.3 million (₹110 crore) in a bid to expand into the US. The company currently operates its fill-stack content market in India.
Pepper Content’s Series A round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
Tanglin Venture Partners, Lightspeed and Titan Capital also took part in the round, along with seasoned global operators such as Gokul Rajaram of Doordash, Ritesh Agarwal and Abhinav Sinha of OYO, Ankur Nagpal of Teachable, Dheeraj Pandey of Nutanix, Ashish Gupta of Helion.vc and Kunal Shah of CRED.
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Choosing the US was a simple decision
The company will use the proceeds of this financing to expand its international operations, particularly in the US. Usually, companies start their international business from the Middle East or other countries in Southeast Asia because of their similarities with the Indian market.
However, for exactly the same reason, Pepper Content has decided to skip that market.
“Instead of fighting the same battle in a comparable market around the world, we thought, let’s just find it in the biggest market because if we don’t do it now, we’ll have to go after the US a year later. So why not start with the US, go into those bigger chunks and then expand globally.”
— Rishabh Shekhar, the co-founder of Pepper Content, said in an interview with https://gotechbusiness.com/.
Another factor that motivated Shekhar to skip the Middle East and expand directly into the US is the “seamless acceptance” of his products during trials in the US market.
The other reason for Pepper Content to go after the U.S. market is its ability to earn that dollar bill in a market focused more on content quality than price, he explained.
More services, more competition
Pepper Content – founded in 2017 by Anirudh Singla and Shekhar on the BITS Pilani campus – is a full-stack content marketplace (SaaS) that connects content creators with organizations that need content. The company claims to partner with 2,500 clients such as Adani Enterprises, Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble (P&G), HDFC Bank, CRED, Groww, SBI Mutual Funds. Google, Binance and Adobe.
In addition to expanding into the US market, the company has also decided to introduce new services such as graphic design, language translation and video content creation. The new and existing verticals would pit Pepper Content against Verbilo, Webchutney, 99design and Super Design in the US market.
“What Salesforce has done for Sales, we will do for the content ecosystem,” both Singla and Shekhar said in a statement.
Shekhar Says Existing Investors Can Facilitate U.S. Expansion
Shekhar also noted that their existing donors will make this international journey much easier given their existing network and expertise. “We have the right people. And Bessemer is really big in [the] US, so we’re already in touch with the US arm,” Shekhar told https://gotechbusiness.com/.
| investor | Name / Advantage |
| Bessemer Venture Partners | The US-based fund was a funder of LinkedIn, Pinterest, Shopify, Yelp and others |
| Tanglin Venture Partners | The Singapore-based fund had invested in Jupiter, Rupeek, Open, Inshorts, Moglix |
| Speed of light | The US-based fund has invested in approximately 1,200 companies, including Byju’s, OYO, ShareChat |
| Gokul Rajaram | Product and Business Helper at Doordash, Board Member at Coinbase and Pinterest |
| Ritesh Agarwal | CEO of the global budget hotel chain OYO |
| Dheeraj Pandey | Founder of Nutanix, Board Member at Adobe |
| Ashish Gupta | Founder at Helion.vc, Board Member at Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) |
Source: Pepper Content, Company Websites
“We firmly believe that the future of work is on-demand driven and we love the approach Pepper is taking to build a powerful content marketing stack that helps startups and enterprises collaborate more strategically with expert on-demand freelancers. talent and workflows and collaboration tools to create high-quality content,” said Anant Vidur Puri, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners.
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