To cricket fans, the word peek means a hit made by the batsman while hitting the ball behind the stumps. "What a cliché" is how fans applaud the delicacy of the look. A day after Google pumped $140 million into an Indian startup called Glance, which delivered personalized, AI-powered content for Android phones, we applauded with the same words. Why that? Because Glance and its parent company InMobi have become prominent in the pursuit of a slice of the online advertising pie owned and operated by Google and Facebook for years. The injection of funds, from Google's €10bn Indian War Chest, elevated Glance to unicorn status and the fastest to achieve status. The latest round of investments in Glance is led by Google and Mithril Partners from current investor Peter Thiel, who was also part of the early growth of PayPal, Facebook, and AirBNB.
A look at the Glance app
InMobi, itself a Bangalore-based unicorn, launched the Glance app in 2018 to deliver news, media, and games to the lock screen of Android phones. The app, which has more than 115 million users, had bypassed Google's Play Store entirely, instead focusing on going after OEMs like Xiaomi and Samsung to pre-install the app. Also, unlike the Sharechats of this world, Glance does not focus on user-generated content, instead it focuses on news, stories, and the occasional game that it delivers using the power of AI. What makes Glance unique, though, is that its business-to-consumer model works against the ad-tech company that owns it on the assumption that it won't serve ads. But that is not all. Late last year, InMobi acquired Roposo, a startup that offers a shorthand video platform. With TikTok out of contention over India's ban on Chinese apps, Google's latest largesse would help.
Risk mitigation and growth
Details of the funding that InMobi released through statements suggest that the money would be used to deepen its AI capability, not just at Glance but also at Roposo. It will also be used to expand the technology team, build a service platform, strengthen brand marketing, and drive expansion in the United States and South America. A statement from Google Vice President Caesar Sengupta called Glance an excellent example of innovation in solving mobile first and only consumption in the local languages of India. Some of our readers may recall that Google is facing legal challenges from a large number of Indian companies that have accused it of anti-competitive practices. But, Glance kept a safe distance. And in doing so, it mitigated the biggest risk Google could have faced by securing investment from the very company that has been known in the past to stifle business growth that could lead to potential competition. The story of Unlockd and its ban by Google is still whispered about. Before filing for bankruptcy, the US-based company was showing ads to users when they opened their smartphones.
A smart move indeed
So, in many ways, Glance brought his biggest fear into the boardroom by offering a stake in his fortune, which was incidentally undisclosed by the company. Suffice to say, Glance has everything Google would want in India: language content, media partnerships, a short video platform, and big aspirations. "Glance is reimagining the future of digital consumption on smartphones," Naveen Tewari, founder and CEO of Glance and InMobi Group, said in a statement, highlighting the value of lending to Google two of the "biggest blueprints for digital content - ways" of India. Does the deal guarantee that Glance will be coming to the Google Play Store soon? Because if not, users may continue to remove the app as bloatware when they unbox their latest smartphone.