Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], July 1: Swarajya, one of India's oldest print publications and one of today's leading digital platforms, has announced a fresh round of funding in its sponsor company Kovai Media Pvt .Limited. Ltd. The new round provides additional capital to complement internal accruals to fund the next phase of rapid expansion and growth of this unique omnichannel platform, which achieved profitability in FY 2020-2021. The current round was oversubscribed by existing investors themselves, including Venture Finance & Development Corporation (Hari Kiran Vadlamani) Meridian Investments (Mohandas Pai), and was led by Yuj Bharat Holdings, an affiliate of Yuj Ventures (representing the interests of Siddharth Yog), which now becomes the largest shareholder group of the sponsor company with 38% ownership.
“The company plans to use the new infusion to significantly expand its newsroom and add reporters and editors in key cities of Bharat. Part of the funds will also be used to upgrade our technology, including revamped applications, web properties and the implementation of modern customer data platforms. These strategic investments will focus on significantly increasing the publication's coverage, direct reporting and editorial presence, and also broadening and deepening our subscriber base,” said Amarnath Govindarajan, CEO and publisher of the company.
“We are very grateful to our existing investors who continue to amaze us with their unwavering belief in the cause that Swarajya serves by providing a big tent for reasoned center-right discussions and debates. They have allowed us to remain editorially independent during difficult periods. It is your unwavering support that enables me to rededicate myself as editor and CEO to the vision and mission of Swarajya,” he added.Swarajya was originally established in 1956 as a weekly newspaper, under the patronage of the first Bharat Ratna, Dr C Rajagopalachari , freedom fighter and first head of state of Indian origin of India (as Governor General from 1948 to 1950), Chief Minister of the undivided province of Madras. State (from 1952 to 1954) and founder of the liberal Swatantra Party (in 1959) in protest against the socialist ideology and the Nehruvian approach increasingly adopted by the Congress Party. Unfortunately, the magazine ceased operation at or around the time of the emergency (1977-1980). In early 2014, a group of businessmen who believed in Rajaji's “liberal-conservative right” vision for an independent India acquired the brand and archives and resurrected and relaunched the magazine.
Swarajya has grown steadily over the last decade and now reaches a target audience of approximately 1 million unique visitors per month. It was also one of the first new-age digital media platforms to adopt a 'reader pays' model which today has over 20,000 subscribers and accounts for the majority of the company's revenue, as well as enabling Swarajya to have Independent editorial opinions on all matters, without fear or favor.
Swarajya will also use some of the funds from the current capital round to revamp the magazine's beloved print edition, with richer, more expansive editorial content that caters to the discerning reader beyond the daily news cycle. "The first time we've backed “Swarajya was in 2014, as supporters of an independent, economically conservative but liberal voice in the Indian media, when it was not fashionable to do so.” said Siddharth Yog, founder of Yuj.
“The idea was simply to have a self-sufficient, respected and reasoned voice that analyzed, vocalized and defended issues from a center-right perspective – these included free enterprise and limited government; “real liberalism” by supporting true equality with clear, unambiguous but carefully reasoned editorial positions on important issues such as the Uniform Civil Code, Article 370, Ram Mandir and Article 377; and introduce young readers to the country's incomparable civilizational heritage to help liberate long-entrenched colonial and servile mentalities and develop self-respect. In 2014/2015, very few Indian intellectuals supported such a narrative and even fewer publications in the Indian media embraced or adopted such an editorial policy.
It is a great tribute to Swarajya, which walked an experimental, lonely and often difficult path in the early days of leading an editorial renaissance of the national narrative in the media, that today many publications and media outlets have revamped their editorial policies to follow discourses Similar. , and more and more intellectuals and citizens alike are testing long-held narrow opinions through a new lens of logic and long-suppressed facts. While the entrepreneurs we supported made some initial mistakes in some areas, they listened to us and quickly corrected course. I also note that they were mostly disciplined in their financial approach by not raising large amounts of capital and focusing on profitability. Rajaji would have been proud. I am now hopeful that this new round of capital will allow Swarajya to amplify its reasoned voice and claim its rightful place as a leading, liberal and lucid right-of-centre publication that does justice to the vision of a truly viksit bharat, gives voice to a young and ambitious citizenry, provides an intellectual and moral compass and allows us to continue to correctly interpret India.”
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“The company plans to use the new infusion to significantly expand its newsroom and add reporters and editors in key cities of Bharat. Part of the funds will also be used to upgrade our technology, including revamped applications, web properties and the implementation of modern customer data platforms. These strategic investments will focus on significantly increasing the publication's coverage, direct reporting and editorial presence, and also broadening and deepening our subscriber base,” said Amarnath Govindarajan, CEO and publisher of the company.
“We are very grateful to our existing investors who continue to amaze us with their unwavering belief in the cause that Swarajya serves by providing a big tent for reasoned center-right discussions and debates. They have allowed us to remain editorially independent during difficult periods. It is your unwavering support that enables me to rededicate myself as editor and CEO to the vision and mission of Swarajya,” he added.Swarajya was originally established in 1956 as a weekly newspaper, under the patronage of the first Bharat Ratna, Dr C Rajagopalachari , freedom fighter and first head of state of Indian origin of India (as Governor General from 1948 to 1950), Chief Minister of the undivided province of Madras. State (from 1952 to 1954) and founder of the liberal Swatantra Party (in 1959) in protest against the socialist ideology and the Nehruvian approach increasingly adopted by the Congress Party. Unfortunately, the magazine ceased operation at or around the time of the emergency (1977-1980). In early 2014, a group of businessmen who believed in Rajaji's “liberal-conservative right” vision for an independent India acquired the brand and archives and resurrected and relaunched the magazine.
Swarajya has grown steadily over the last decade and now reaches a target audience of approximately 1 million unique visitors per month. It was also one of the first new-age digital media platforms to adopt a 'reader pays' model which today has over 20,000 subscribers and accounts for the majority of the company's revenue, as well as enabling Swarajya to have Independent editorial opinions on all matters, without fear or favor.
Swarajya will also use some of the funds from the current capital round to revamp the magazine's beloved print edition, with richer, more expansive editorial content that caters to the discerning reader beyond the daily news cycle. "The first time we've backed “Swarajya was in 2014, as supporters of an independent, economically conservative but liberal voice in the Indian media, when it was not fashionable to do so.” said Siddharth Yog, founder of Yuj.
“The idea was simply to have a self-sufficient, respected and reasoned voice that analyzed, vocalized and defended issues from a center-right perspective – these included free enterprise and limited government; “real liberalism” by supporting true equality with clear, unambiguous but carefully reasoned editorial positions on important issues such as the Uniform Civil Code, Article 370, Ram Mandir and Article 377; and introduce young readers to the country's incomparable civilizational heritage to help liberate long-entrenched colonial and servile mentalities and develop self-respect. In 2014/2015, very few Indian intellectuals supported such a narrative and even fewer publications in the Indian media embraced or adopted such an editorial policy.
It is a great tribute to Swarajya, which walked an experimental, lonely and often difficult path in the early days of leading an editorial renaissance of the national narrative in the media, that today many publications and media outlets have revamped their editorial policies to follow discourses Similar. , and more and more intellectuals and citizens alike are testing long-held narrow opinions through a new lens of logic and long-suppressed facts. While the entrepreneurs we supported made some initial mistakes in some areas, they listened to us and quickly corrected course. I also note that they were mostly disciplined in their financial approach by not raising large amounts of capital and focusing on profitability. Rajaji would have been proud. I am now hopeful that this new round of capital will allow Swarajya to amplify its reasoned voice and claim its rightful place as a leading, liberal and lucid right-of-centre publication that does justice to the vision of a truly viksit bharat, gives voice to a young and ambitious citizenry, provides an intellectual and moral compass and allows us to continue to correctly interpret India.”
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