TaxiForSure co-founder’s knowledge-sharing startup Vokal acqui-hires quizzing app

Vernacular knowledge-sharing platform Vokal has acqui-hired StupidChat Technology Pvt. Ltd, which runs a quizzing app.

Vokal co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna confirmed the development to TechCircle.  The transaction was first reported by The Economic Times, which said it was a stock deal.

The report quoted Vokal co-founder Mayank Bidawatka as saying that StupidChat had gained a healthy traction in a short period.

TechCircle has separately reached out to the founders of StupidChat for comment. The article will be updated once a response is received.

It was not immediately clear whether StupidApp will continue to operate under Vokal.

According to The Economic Times report, Vokal will use the six-member team of StupidChat “to come up with daily engagement products for the platform" apart from handling product design and technology verticals.

Vokal
Vokal is an app-based question-answer and opinion platform for Indians not conversant in English. Its content is user-generated and has both voice and text capabilities. The startups has so far raised an undisclosed amount in funding from venture capital firms Accel Partners and Blume Ventures.

Vokal was launched by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka last year. It is the second startup innings for both founders. Radhakrishna had earlier co-founded cab-aggregator startup TaxiForSure, which was acquired by peer Ola for $200 million in 2015.
Bidawatka had earlier co-founded m-commerce app Goodbox, which TechCircle recently reported had slashesd its headcount by two-thirds.

StupidChat
StupidChat runs a quizzing app called StupidApp. It is a quiz game based on general knowledge which is conducted three times a day at fixed time slots.

Prize money of Rs 10,000-15,000 is up for grabs in every game and Rs 25,000-50,000 on special occasions. Winners are awarded money through their Paytm accounts.

StupidApp claimed to have 4.5 lakh registered users and a daily active user base of 2 lakh, mostly in the age brackets of 16-25 and 30-40.

The firm was started by three friends - Sourav Karmakar, Saheb Roy, and Pramod K Maloo -- last year. It had not raised any venture capital funding until now.

Maloo had told TechCircle in an earlier interaction that the firm had recently moved its operations from Kolkata to Bengaluru.