Google, in its endeavor to support the local startups that develop vernacular content, announces investments in leading Indian startups Glance InMobi and VerSe Innovation, enabling them to further scale the availability of relevant and engaging content in different formats across various Indic languages. Glance InMobi currently provides visual, immersive and localized content experiences across products like Glance and Roposo, while VerSe Innovation serves vernacular content in 14 languages through platforms like the Dailyhunt and Josh apps.

In a Google blog post, Caesar Sengupta, VP, Google wrote, “In the last two years alone, 100 million new internet users have come online from rural India. Data shows that rural consumption now accounts for roughly 45 percent of overall mobile data usage in the country, and is primarily focused on online video. But many of these internet users continue to have trouble finding content to read or services they can use confidently, in their own language.”

Caesar added, “Teams at Google have been working over the years to solve this challenge in a number of ways. We’ve built new products and features that enable people to create, consume and communicate more effortlessly across more Indic languages, and through that, better serve not just the needs of over a billion people in India, but many more people around the world.”

He also added that the investments underline Google’s strong belief in partnering deeply with India’s innovative startups, and its commitment to working towards the shared goal of building a truly inclusive digital economy that will benefit everyone.