Birds of a feather: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone invests in Deepak Ravindran's start-up Lookup

The vibrant Indian start-up space got another star investor yesterday in Twitter co-founder Christopher Isaac Stone, aka Biz Stone. Stone has invested an undisclosed amount in a Bangalore-based start-up Lookup, a messaging app that allows people to connect with local businesses. The app has been developed by Hatchery Software Pvt Ltd, co-founded by Deepak Ravindran. [caption id=“attachment_2255646” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Biz Stone. Reuters[/caption] According to a report in the Techcircle, Stone is now also an advisor to the start-up, which will use the funding to expand its operations. “We plan to integrate all the offline businesses into the online world and connect them to their customers. The final goal is to make Lookup a global phenomenon and hope to ease the busy lives of the people,” Ravindran said in his blog explaining his future plans for the company. A report in the Financial Express said the company is planning to raise $3 million in series A funding by June from Stone and another VC fund. “I am excited to build and nurture a strong relationship with Biz (Stone). His prodigious ventures are simply phenomenal,” Ravindran has been quoted as saying in the FE report. Apart from co-founding Twitter, Stone has also started up Jelly Industries. Now, he is the CEO and co-founder of at Super Industries Inc, says says his executive profile on Bloomberg. Stone is an angel investor and advisor to various companies such as Fluther, Inc. and Branch Media, Inc. He is also an advisor to Obvious Ventures and founding advisor at Trazzler, Inc. Stone had also co-founded Xanga and The Obvious Corporation, it said. According to Stone, Ravindran is an inspiring entrepreneur.

Excited to join @deepakravindran in his next act, @lookup_ Such an amazing person and inspiring entrepreneur. http://t.co/kuVMO1hFae

— Biz Stone (@biz) May 20, 2015

In a blog, Ravindran thanked Stone saying “Birds of a feather, flock together!” Ravindran had earlier co-founded Innoz and Quest. According to him, the common denominator throughout has been helping people find information. “With Innoz SMS Search, over 120 million users were able to access the Internet without smartphones. And now with Lookup, our goal is to help you find information about any local business and get things done over messaging,” he said in the blog, adding he is “overwhelmed and thrilled” to welcome Stone on board. Lookup, a free app, was envisioned to help people find be a way to find the availability of a product or any information, service or support, instantly and without moving around. In the first month of launch, the company got funding from Infosys’ Kris Gopalakrishnan, Teru Sato, DeNA and MKS Group (Switzerland), the blog says.