Rigi raises ₹100 cr from Elevation Capital, MS Dhoni, Cred’s Kunal Shah & more

• Rigi raised $25 million across three rounds conducted within the last 14 months.
  
• The startup helps creators and influencers grow, monetize and manage their content.
  
• The company plans to use the funds to expand into newer categories and geographies.
  

Rigi, a platform which allows creators and influencers to manage and monetize their communities, said on Wednesday that it raised ₹100 crore. The startup calls it Series A extension round, and is led by Elevation Capital; with participation from Accel, Stellaris and Sequoia among others.

Angel investors such as former cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kunal Shah (founder of Cred), Amit Agarwal (founder of NoBroker), Chakradhar Gade (co-founder at Country Delight), Sharan Hegde ( CEO of The 1% Club) also invested in the round.

Founded in 2021 by Swapnil Saurav and Ananya Singhal, Rigi focuses on knowledge creators in areas such as education, fitness, gaming etc. It provides them with an end-to-end ecosystem to manage their communities, with a focus on monetisation. It provides tools such as subscription management, courses, live workshops, paid one-to-one interactions and integration with social platforms.

Rigi raised $25 million across three rounds in the last 14 months. It plans to use the latest funds raised to expand into newer categories and geographies.

“Creator economy is a new paradigm of employment. It is here to stay in India, South East Asia, and globally. But this is a nascent ecosystem. All creators need tools to be more efficient and to grow. Rigi has created a world class suite of products that creates a 10X positive impact on the creator businesses,” Prayank Swaroop at Accel India said.

Since its inception in October 2021, Rigi claims to have helped over 10,000 creators in over 30 categories. Recently, it also expanded to Indonesia.

“Knowledge creators in various fields, including education, health and fitness, skills training, and gaming are sought out by users for specialized advice on these topics. Users are now willing to pay these creators for personalized advice rather than relying on a generic, one-size-fits-all approach. Our goal is to support these creators in this aspect of their journey, so they can focus on what they do best: adding value to their audiences' lives,” Swapnil Saurav, co-founder of Rigi said.

Globally, the creator economy is estimated to be worth over $100 billion, according to estimates provided by Rigi.

"At Elevation, we have been firm believers of the growth potential of the creator economy as demonstrated by our past investments in companies such as Sharechat, Turnip and Headfone. In just under two years of their existence, Rigi has enabled thousands of creators to become entrepreneurs — a testament to the unparalleled customer love they have received,” Mayank Khanduja, partner at Elevation Capital said.

Ananya and Swapnil, both batchmates from BITS Pilani, had previously founded HalaPlay, which was acquired by Nazara Technologies and Delta Corp in 2020. While working with social media influencers at HalaPlay, they recognized the growing presence of online creators and the potential of influencers' communities, which led them to establish Rigi.

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