In yet another strategic move, Jaipur Headquartered Girnar Software Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates India’s largest auto portals CarDekho.com, Gaadi.com, ZigWheels.com and BikeDekho.com has announced the acquisition of PowerDrift Studios Private Limited, popularly known as PowerDrift. PowerDrift is India’s largest YouTube channel for automotive content and is on the verge of being the only automotive channel on YouTube to reach a million subscribers. This makes Girnarsoft group the largest automotive video content player reaching out to 1.4 million subscribers.
Founded in 2012 by Rohan Albal and Amit Shetty, PowerDrift is a new age rich media content creation company that specialises in creating unique lifestyle and engaging video content for consumers and enthusiasts of cars and motorcycles in India. Awarded with the ‘Best Auto Content Creator – All India’ award at the Social Media Summit 2018, PowerDrift’s content has been an amalgamation of sound understanding of cars and motorcycles and the subtle art of filmmaking. Surpassing all the industry giants and conventional auto shows in near half the number of Videos and half the time, PowerDrift today clocks in 10million+ views monthly and has gone on to become a cult as India’s most favourite auto show.
In just a span of five years since its inception, PowerDrift has dominated the video content space in the country with more than 240 million lifetime views on its YouTube channel with an average of 2 lakh views per video. Importance of Video content is underlined by the Google – Kantar TNS study, which states that 80 % of car buyers watch online video during their car buying journey.
PowerDrift is Girnar Software’s 8th acquisition spanning across technology and content space. Aiming to digitize the entire auto ecosystem of the country, GirnarSoft has become largest automotive video content player with 1.4 million YouTube subscribers, largest consumer facing digital destination with 30 million monthly unique visitors coming on group sites and largest auto social media platform in the country.
Speaking on the Acquisition, Amit Jain, Co-founder and CEO, CarDekho said, “These are exciting times. CarDekho has always innovated and focussed on providing the best user experience. Content plays an extremely important role in that. By bringing PowerDrift on board, I am convinced that this acquisition will prove to be a game-changer. We will come up with the best in class video content, which will be a visual treat and decision enabler for all stakeholders. I welcome each one from PowerDrift on-board and look forward to a power-packed innings!”
Rohal Albal, Co-Founder and CEO, PowerDrift said, “Showcasing Indian motoring in a unique and world class way has been the founding principle of PowerDrift. This alliance enables us in creating more exciting content, but also offers great value to our viewers. With our strengths compounded, I can’t wait for an even bigger, more exciting automotive future for India”.
Girnar Software is one of India’s leading consumer internet companies. The group runs India’s largest auto sites – CarDekho.com, Zigwheels.com, BikeDekho.com and Gaadi.com. The company is also a pioneer in introducing specialised portals like TyreDekho.com and TrucksDekho.com and CollegeDekho.com. GirnarSoft went international in 2015 with an auto site CarBay.com in multiple countries in Asia and Middle East. It also launched OTO.com in Indonesia which has become the number one auto site. Girnar Software has acquired Gaadi.com, Zigwheels.com, Buying IQ (shopping engine), Drishya360s (virtual reality), Volob Technologies (AR-VR focused visual communications), Connecto (SaaS start-up), Help on Wheels, road side assistance startup.
Girnar Software has raised funding from Marquee investors which include Google Capital, Tybourne Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital, HDFC Bank, Ratan Tata and Times Internet. The company is currently valued at USD 380 million.The group’s vision is to be a multi-billion dollar company by 2021 with global footprint.
Source: IndianWeb2
