Media and news startup ScoopWhoop has raised $4 million in a round of funding from Kalaari Capital, reports ET. The startup will use the funds to expand ScoopWhoop Talkies, its video production unit. Note that ScoopWhoop had raised $1.6 million from Bharti Softbank (BSB) in exchange for a 36.5% stake in November last year. At the time, BSB said that ScoopWhoop would create content targeted at Indian youth, which it would distribute over its mobile-optimized technology platform to Indian consumers. BSB did not participate in the current round. Launched in 2013, ScoopWhoop currently claims to have over 20 million unique visitors with over 70 million page views and 10 million video views per month. It currently offers news, listicles and other feature stories, as well as videos. Growth of listicle sites: While sites like Indiatimes has been doing traffic generating top ten lists on its site years before BuzzFeed or ScoopWhoop, there has been a significant growth of listicle sites over the last couple of years. Earlier this month, Mashable launched a local edition in India. Last year in August, BuzzFeed also launched a dedicated Indian edition. This is possibly due to the growing influence of social on content consumption, driven by the growth of mobiles and tablets. Note that Times Internet had partnered with a large number of international publishers, including Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Business Insider, HuffingtonPost India, Adage, ReadWrite, Remodelista, Techradar, IGN India, AskMen, Pursuitist, among others, to launch local editions.
