PropheSee, a digital analytics platform, raises Rs 3.3 crore from IAN, SA&E India

PropheSee, a Delhi-based digital analytics start-up has raised Rs 3.3 crore ($516K) in angel funding through a co-investment from the Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs India (SA&E India).  The start-up is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform targeted towards brands investing in the digital arena that includes but is not limited to e-commerce, fashion, publishers, app based services and media and entertainment firms. On ground, PropheSee is used by C level decision makers, brand and marketing managers, social media teams and digital agencies. The funding will be used to scale technology and build core talent. The key focus areas over the next six months include the development of more industry-specific analytics and modules, investing in predictive algorithms and data visualisation methods to facilitate better utility and decision making by management, from their data and insights. PropheSee also plans to build further audience listening and community management capabilities in addition to testing new methods to measure consumer engagement, intent & other behaviours. Ajay Lavakare led the round on behalf of IAN and SA&E India and will be joining the Board of Directors along with PropheSee’s advisor and mentor, Sujal Shah (CXO/Investor, MissMalini Media, and MD, Bandra Road Advisory) to help drive growth and scale over the coming months. The data analytics market is expected to surpass $42 billion through 2018, at a growth rate almost six times as that of the overall IT market. PropheSee also wants to address the issue centered on access to analytics and is working towards bringing robust analytics to startups and small and medium businesses at a fraction of current costs. On the investment, Lavakare said, “With its affordable cost to small and medium businesses and its focus on empowering companies to understand and act upon their social/digital performance, PropheSee has the potential to scale rapidly.” Commenting on the investment, Paula Mariwala, President of SA&E India said, “We are excited to make our first investment as an angel group in India. PropheSee operates in a space that is seeing rapid technology innovations and disruptions. With this investment, it will be able to leverage the Silicon Valley and Stanford University connections of the Stanford Angels members to continuously innovate on its technology and business model to stay ahead of competition, and also attract great talent.” The company was founded in November 2014 by three co-founders, Ishaan Sethi – who has worked in big data marketing analytics in New York City for various film and television brands, Harshil Gurha and Jitesh Luthra – computer engineering graduates. Ishaan Sethi, Co-Founder, said the company’s key focus is to deliver actionable insights using big data technologies to run pioneering analytics. While the primary focus thus far has been on descriptive analytics with the goal to help brands take control of their data, the platform will soon be capable of running predictive analytics to model consumer behaviour (among other trends) based on digital data. The next six months are extremely exciting for us as we take this platform live globally.”