Magzter
{{Short description|Digital newspaper and magazine newsstand platform}}
{{more citations needed|article relies too much on primary sources and|date=May 2015}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Magzter Inc
| logo = MagzterLogo.png
| logo_caption =
| type = Private
| industry = Digital publishing
| foundation = {{Start date|2011}}
| founder = Girish Ramdas, Vijayakumar Radhakrishnan
| location_city = New York City
| location_country = United States
| area_served = International
| key_people = Girish Ramdas (Co-Founder & CEO)
Vijay Radhakrishnan (Co-founder and President)
| num_employees = 80 (July 2022)
| parent = VerSe Innovation
| homepage = {{URL|www.magzter.com}}
}}
Magzter is a cross-platform, self-service, global digital newsstand with thousands of magazines and newspapers from 5,000+ publishers.{{cite news
| title ='Zter'ing the pot
| last =
| first =
| date = January 6–19, 2014
| website =
| publisher = Business India
}} Girish Ramdas and Vijayakumar Radhakrishnan founded Magzter in 2011.{{cite web
| url = https://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/bootstrapping-your-business-venture-on-the-net/1/186474.html
| title = Boot in Profits
| last = Hans
| first = Pritam P
| date = August 2012
| website =
| publisher = Business Today
| access-date = 11 June 2014
}} The company is headquartered in New York and since 2024, it is owned by VerSe Innovation.{{Cite news |date=2024-04-18 |title=Dailyhunt parent acquires Magzter, grows revenue from ads to subscriptions |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/dailyhunt-parent-acquires-magzter-grows-revenue-from-ads-to-subscriptions/articleshow/109381814.cms |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=The Economic Times |issn=0013-0389}}
History
Girish Ramdas, the company's CEO, and Vijayakumar Radhakrishnan, the company's President, founded Magzter in 2011.{{cite web
| url = https://www.firstpost.com/business/digital-magazine-store-magzter-thinks-big-raises-10-mn-1283461.html
| title = Digital magazine store Magzter thinks big, raises $10 mn
| last =
| first =
| date = 12 December 2013
| website =
| publisher = Firstbiz
| access-date = 11 June 2014
}} In 2010, Radhakrishnan began the development of a platform to digitally publish magazines and the magazine store's app launch in mid-2011. In 2012, Magzter completed its Series A funding round.{{cite web
| url = http://techcircle.vccircle.com/2012/05/09/excl-digital-magazine-store-magzter-raises-series-a-funding-from-indous-venture-partners-to-enhance-offerings-manifold/
| title = Excl: Digital magazine store Magzter raises Series A funding from IndoUS Venture Partners; To enhance offerings manifold
| last = Gulati
| first = Sonam
| date = 9 May 2012
| website =
| publisher = Techcircle
| access-date = 11 June 2014
}} In September 2012, Magzter was listed as The Highest Grossing App in Asia on the Apple Store.{{cite web
| url = https://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/what-is-new-on-web/1/237904.html
| title = Net Flux: Magazine Mania
| last =
| first =
| date = 24 December 2012
| website =
| publisher = India Today
| access-date = 11 June 2014
|url = http://efytimes.com/e1/95395/Magzter-Is--On-The-Apple-App-Store
|title = Magzter Is #1 On The Apple App Store!
|last =
|first =
|date = 27 November 2012
|website =
|publisher = EFY Times
|access-date = 11 June 2014
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130528035346/http://efytimes.com/e1/95395/Magzter-Is--On-The-Apple-App-Store
|archive-date = 28 May 2013
|url-status = dead
}}
In July 2013, the firm entered into collaboration with Amazon's Kindle Fire and introduced books to their publishing platform in September 2013.{{cite web
| url = http://www.ciol.com/ciol/news/154989/girish-ramdas-magzter-ciol-person-year
| title = Girish Ramdas of Magzter is CIOL Person of the Year
| last =
| first =
| date = 28 December 2012
| website =
| publisher = CIOL
| access-date = 11 June 2014
| url = https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/internet/Digital-magazine-store-Magzter-raises-10-million/articleshow/27233468.cms
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140104053222/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-12-12/internet/45120525_1_vijayakumar-radhakrishnan-kalaari-capital-series-b-funding
| url-status = live
| archive-date = 4 January 2014
| title = Digital magazine store Magzter raises $10 million
| last =
| first =
| date = 12 December 2013
| work = The Times of India
| access-date = 11 June 2014
| url = https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-oncampus/Magzter-trains-its-eyes-on-BRICS-for-more-readers/article20714924.ece
| title = Magzter trains its eyes on BRICS for more readers
| last = Law
| first = Abhishek
| date =
| website =
| publisher = The Hindu Business Line
| access-date = 11 June 2014
| url = http://www.ciol.com/ciol/news/192620/tablets-rise-app-developers-rejoice
| title = Tablets on the rise; app developers rejoice!
| last =
| first =
| date = 30 July 2013
| website =
| publisher = CIOL
| access-date = 11 June 2014
}} The company also completed its Series B funding round that year, which raised $10 million.{{cite web|url=http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/digital-mag-store-magzter-raises-us-10m-series-120444322.html|title=Digital mag store Magzter raises US$10M in Series B funding|last=|first=|date=11 December 2013|website=|publisher=Yahoo! Finance|access-date=11 June 2014}}{{cite news
| url = http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/digital-magazine-store-magzter-raises-10-mn-from-singapore-press-holdings-113121100552_1.html
| title = Digital magazine store Magzter raises $10 mn from Singapore Press Holdings
| last = Narasimhan
| first = T E
| date = 11 December 2013
| publisher = Business Standard
| access-date = 11 June 2014
| newspaper = Business Standard India
| url = http://business.asiaone.com/news/sph-invests-global-digital-magazine-store
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140714132115/http://business.asiaone.com/news/sph-invests-global-digital-magazine-store
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = July 14, 2014
| title = SPH invests in global digital magazine store
| last =
| first =
| date = 14 December 2013
| website =
| publisher = Asia One Business
| access-date = 11 June 2014
| url = https://techcrunch.com/2013/12/11/digital-magazine-startup-magzter-raises-10m-to-fuel-global-growth/
| title = Digital Magazine Startup Magzter Raises $10M To Fuel Global Growth
| last = Etherington
| first = Darrell
| date = 11 December 2011
| website =
| publisher = TechCrunch
| access-date = 11 June 2014
}} In early 2015, Magzter launched Magzter GOLD, a subscription, that provides unlimited access to over 9,000 magazines and newspapers from around the globe.{{Cite web |title=Magzter - World's largest digital newsstand with thousands of magazines and newspapers |url=https://www.magzter.com/ |access-date=2022-07-14 |website=Magzter |language=en}} The company also has Magzter GOLD Lite, that allows unlimited access to five titles.{{cite web| url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/19/magzter-gold-launch/|title=Magzter Launches Magzter Gold, Offering Unlimited Access To 2,000+ Magazines| author=Anthony Ha| date=January 19, 2015| publisher=TechCrunch| access-date=January 31, 2015}}{{cite web| url=https://blogs.wsj.com/personal-technology/2015/01/19/magzter-gold-offers-2000-magazines-for-10-a-month/| title=Magzter Gold Offers 2,000 Magazines for $10 a Month| author=Nathan Olivarez-Giles| date=January 19, 2015| publisher=Wall Street Journal| access-date=January 31, 2015}}
On 18 April 2024, VerSe Innovation, the parent company of the Indian news aggregator app Dailyhunt, announced its acquisition of Magzter. While the financial terms were not disclosed, Umang Bedi, VerSe's co-founder, described the acquisition as VerSe’s largest to date, highlighting their focus on reaching affluent audiences.{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Manish |date=2024-04-18 |title=India's VerSe acquires Apple News+ rival Magzter |url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/17/dailyhunt-parent-acquires-newsstand-app-magzter/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}
Business operations
Magzter distributes magazines and newspapers from several countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, China, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Indonesia, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. The company works with more than 5,000 publishers in more than 60 languages.
In July 2022, the company had 80 employees.{{cite news
| title = New-Age Kiosk
| last =
| first =
| date = 20 July 2013
| website =
| publisher = Outlook Business
}} The Magzter app is available on Apple iOS, Android (Google Play) and Amazon Appstore.{{Cite web|url=http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/News/News-Item/Magzter-Adds-20-Time-Inc-Brands-to-Digital-Newsstand-109149.htm|title=Magzter Adds 20 Time Inc. Brands to Digital Newsstand|date=2016-02-16|website=EContent Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-13}} The company counts among its publisher customers some marquee names including Dotdash Meredith (USA), Condé Nast (USA), Hearst (USA), A360 Media (USA), Bloomberg (USA), Maxim Inc. (USA), Guardian News & Media (UK), Future (UK), Reach Publishing Services Limited (UK), Media24 (South Africa), Tatler Asia (Singapore), India Today Group (India), Worldwide Media (India), HT Digital Streams Limited (India), SPH Media Limited (Singapore), Are Media (Australia) and Grupo Expansión (Mexico).[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/magzter-adds-20-time-inc-210000623.html "Diverse Digital Newsstand"; Yahoo! Finance; February 11, 2016. Accessed September 16, 2019.]{{cite web
| url = https://mashable.com/2013/02/27/magzter-youtube-of-magazines/
| title = Magzter Wants to Be the YouTube of Magazines
| last = Wasserman
| first = Todd
| date = 27 February 2013
| website =
| publisher = Mashable
| access-date = 11 June 2014
}}{{cite web|url=https://www.marketwired.com/press-release/time-incs-abe-cytryn-joins-magzter-as-chief-technology-officer-1956367.htm|title=Time Inc.'s Abe Cytryn Joins Magzter as Chief Technology Officer|date=9 October 2014 |access-date=28 October 2014}} Its headquarters are located in New York and sales offices and teams are in London, Mexico City, Amsterdam, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Singapore.
Business model
Magzter participates in a revenue share model with publishers on magazine and newspaper sales.{{cite web|url=http://www.indiainfoline.com/Research/LeaderSpeak/Vijaykumar-Radhakrishnan-Co-founder-and-President-Magzter/34739859|title=Vijayakumar Radhakrishnan, Co-founder & President, Magzter|last=Mascarenhas|first=Anil|date=27 June 2012|website=|publisher=IIFL|access-date=11 June 2014}}{{cite web
| url = http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-06-29/news/32472630_1_magazine-industry-digital-format-digital-platform
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130127224557/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-06-29/news/32472630_1_magazine-industry-digital-format-digital-platform
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = January 27, 2013
| title = Magzter: A digital magazine store & newsstand application for smart devices
| last = Vijayakumar
| first = Sanjay
| date = 29 June 2012
| website =
| publisher = The Economic Times
| access-date = 11 June 2014
| url = https://venturebeat.com/2013/05/30/magzter-passes-10m-users-turns-2-moves-to-ny-and-signs-up-20-new-titles-including-playboy-shape/
| title = Magzter passes 10M users, moves to NY, and signs up 20 new titles, including National Enquirer, Shape
| last = Koetsier
| first = John
| date =30 May 2013
| website =
| publisher = VentureBeat
| access-date = 11 June 2014
| title = E-publishing gets easier and easier with new models
| last =
| first =
| date = 16 July 2012
| website =
| publisher = Hindustan Times
}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{official website|http://www.Magzter.com}} {{in lang|en|ja|de|es|tr|ar}}
- [https://www.magzter.com/magztergold Magzter Gold - "All-You-Can-Read" Subscription Model]
- [https://apps.apple.com/app/id412163953 Magzter - Apple App Store]
- [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dci.magzter Magzter - Google Play (Android App)]
- [https://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/magzter-india-a410609.html Magzter - Consumer Complaints]
Category:Publishing companies established in 2011
Category:Online publishing companies of the United States
Category:Online magazines published in the United States
Category:Magazine publishing companies of the United States
Category:American digital libraries