Adar Poonawalla picks up 20% stake in short-video sharing platform Wakau

Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla has picked up 20 percent stake in a subsidiary of JetSynthesys and a short-video sharing platform Wakau. Poonawalla is the second big investor at Wakau after megastar Amitabh Bachchan. The amount for which Poonawalla has picked up the stake has, however, not been disclosed.

Launched by digital entertainment and technology company JetSynthesys, Wakau is a community-driven social media platform that offers a combination of mobile-first screen experience and short video content in entertainment and fashion domains with an associated video-commerce element. The app has over 4 lakh curated user-generated videos and a library of songs featuring more than 10,000 curated regional and main media songs for short videos. Wakau has over 5 lakh daily user engagement events.

“New content formats like short entertainment and fashion videos are gaining wide scale popularity and Wakau, leveraging its advanced AI based tech stack has made it so easy, creative, fun and safe for consumers with its high levels of personalization. I’d like to congratulate the team on AI award and am delighted to join this juggernaut of possibilities with Wakau as it sets off on its next phase of growth,” Poonawalla was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.

According to JetSynthesys Vice Chairman and MD Rajan Navani, Wakau was created with a goal to entertain users and promote creativity via distribution and monetisation of content through mechanisms like NFTs. He added that the company has also leveraged AI/ML offerings from AWs in combination with indigenously developed Data Science models to maintain content quality, filter out inappropriate content to provide a safer experience for users, develop new features and designs based on user requirements and serve the best content in keeping with the users’ preferences and interests.

“Adar has been privy to the team’s work done so far and sees the tremendous potential that the platform has. We’re thrilled to have him with us on the journey in official capacity now, alongside Big B, and we look forward to jointly unlocking newer milestones for Wakau in the future,” Navani said on Adar Poonawalla’s investment in the company.

(With agency inputs)

Also read: Serum to reduce Covishield production by at least 50% from next week, says Adar Poonawalla: Report

Also read: COVID-19: SII to launch vaccine for children in 6 months, says Adar Poonawalla