Privacy-tech Startup, Doosra raises seed funding from Omidyar Network India and others
2 years ago Rituka MIn a world where Privacy is impossible to find, Doosra is like an Oasis. Hyderabad- based Privacy-tech startup, Doosra raises seed funding from Omidyar Network India and others. This is a huge step towards protecting the data privacy of consumers and businesses across the globe.
Background of the Privacy-Tech Startup
Streamlining digital lives, Doosra enables consumers and businesses with a
SIM-free virtual mobile number. This number tackles the problem of privacy. The use can disclose this number in situations where sharing personal number is compulsory. To access their “doosra” number, users can login to the company’s website and select a suitable plan. This gives them an instantly active number. The users can share this number instead of their personal numbers, and the algorithm either blocks or sends all incoming calls to voicemail.
The Doosra app, available on Android and iOS, allows users to review all blocked calls, SMSes, OTPs and voicemail. The users can easily manage these settings on the app which is extremely user-friendly. Doosra was founded by Aditya Vuchi in September 2020, at a time when privacy became extremely crucial. Within a year, the Privacy-tech startup managed to raise seed funding from Omidyar Network.
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Since its inception, Doosra has managed to block over 700k calls and 2.5M messages from over 50,000 telemarketers in the last 12 months. With over 100k downloads, Doosra has seen good traction in the B2B market as well. Further, to help volunteers during the Second wave of Covid-19, Doosra also offered a free 6-month plan. Having tied up with telecom companies, Doosra sources regular ten-digit numbers and assigns them to customers through its app.
READ MORE: Take Back Control of Your Digital Privacy with Doosra!
Seed Funding Round
Having been bootstrapped since inception, Doosra raised a seed funding round led by Omidyar Network India. This round also saw participation from Titan Capital, 2am Ventures and other angel investors including Bhuvan Gupta, co-founder, OfBusiness, Nitin Agarwal and Srinivas Raju Kalidindi.
Resonating with the founder’s ideals, Piyush Soonee, Principal, Omidyar Network India, said, “The impact that inclusive PrivacyTech can create in the lives of every Indian is immense. With regulation putting pressure on businesses, and consumers across the economic spectrum looking for tools to take charge of their digital lives, Doosra will solve a critical issue that impacts almost all of us.”
Omidyar Network India is an organization that invests in ventures that build products which empower and create a social impact. They make equity investments and provide grants to non-profits in the areas of Digital Society, Education, Emerging Tech, Financial Inclusion, Governance & Citizen Engagement, and Property Rights.
Expressing the reason why Doosra is so crucial, Aditya spoke in a statement, with digital adoption in communication, identity & payments, privacy is crucial. Doosra safeguards a user’s personal data by providing a publicly shareable mobile number. Users can give this number at malls, supermarkets, price comparison sites, online classifieds and e-commerce platforms. Moreover, the users also have the freedom to choose where to use their personal numbers instead.
