Vyng Raises $4 Million In Series A Round From Omidyar Network

Vyng, a Venice, CA-based company which is focused more on enabling users to begin conversations on the lock screen, has now secured $4 Million in the funding round of Series A.

The round was led by the Omidyar Network India and the returning investor March Capital Partners, with the collaboration from the Alpha Edison and the Entrepreneur Fund.

The company as of now has a plans to use the funds to grow the team and continue to develop patents that drive the content experiences on smartphones.

The startup is led by Paul Kats. Vyng has developed a lock screen technology which surfaces content trapped in a user smartphone app and facilities the quickest, most way to communicate through the delivery of a video to the lock screen of a device.

The technology allows the user to create their video caller ID or ringtone or choose from a curated library of video which is arranged by the interest channels. Since the launch of the video ringtones in 2017, it has also served to more than 2 billion videos in the ten countries.

“Vyng brings a powerful video content experience to what was previously an audio-only caller ID, creating a new distribution channel for short-form content owners and a better experience for making and receiving phone calls,” said Paul Kats, CEO, and Co-Founder, Vyng. “We're constantly inundated with notifications and spam we don't care about – by showing a personalized video on the lock screen, Vyng is elevating the people and conversations that matter most.”

Siddharth Nautiyal, investment partner, Omidyar Network India added, “For the new wave of mobile internet users in India, whom we refer to as the Next Half Billion, there is an urgent need to reimagine the user journey. Vyng does that by integrating video and social expression to an existing behavior, the phone call. Our research shows that building locally relevant experiences is key to creating online trust and usage. We believe with its largest customer base already in India, Vyng is redefining engagement on smartphones.”