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LocalCircles (www.localcircles.com), a local social network for daily life, announced on Wednesdy that Nadir Godrej, Managing Director of Godrej Industries has invested, in his personal capacity, an undisclosed sum of early stage capital into LocalCircles.
Explaining the same, Godrej said, “I thought this was an unusual development. They are trying to bring local communities together, bringing considerable amount of social value, and that attracted me. I strongly believe that LocalCircles will be a key enabler in simplifying daily lives of people through credible information.”
LocalCircles will soon be starting the process to raise an additional $2 million for its next round of financing from individual and corporate investors, angel networks, and venture capital firms.
“We have had initial conversations with some prospective investors and there is strong interest. However, it is very important for the company and the investors to have strong alignment on the vision and values. While E-Commerce has already become an established industry in India, Trusted local Social Media is still in its early stages both globally and in India. Building real identity based, closed trusted local social network requires a very different approach than open social networking platforms, said Sachin Taparia, Chairman and Managing Director of LocalCircles.
“If done effectively though, it can help people easily find credible information required to run daily life, make finding assistance easier, bring back the sense of community and empower citizens”, added Taparia.
The company plans to spend a significant portion of the current and future capital for community outreach, a program that involves sending physical invitations with unique invitation codes to the neighborhoods across Delhi/NCR.
