Durioo M’sian technology startup joins Y Combinator and gets pre-grown funding – Wired PR Lifestyle Story
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Not long ago, Sinan Ismail, the former face of Digital Durian, talk to us about his big dreams for his new technology and animation startup, Durioo.
His goal? For Muslim children to be Disney and Netflix.
Launched in full in 2021, Durioo has now secured an unfavorable pre-seed financing from global investors, Sinan wrote in a statement. LinkedIn post.
There are names like Fadzarudin Anuar and Vivy Yusof (founders of FashionValet and dUCk). Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), and Qadr Financial Partners (UK Venture Investors).
At the same time, Durioo has announced its acceptance of the prestigious Silicon Valley accelerator program. Y Combiner (YC).
In terms of context, YC has previously invested in Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe and DoorDash. A total of 25 companies in its portfolio have been traded with a total valuation of $ 600 billion.
Durioo is the 5th Malaysian-approved company in YC, according to Sinan. Former Malaysian YC alumni of the past make up Dahmaka (now Pop Lunch), Dropee, BrioHR, and Light.
Unusual application, but exciting
In addition to providing seed financing to companies, YC runs accelerator programs to help startups spread their ideas.
YC also helps creators deal with investors and acquirers, teaches their startups how to propose to investors, and how to close a deal when they get interest. The accelerator also helps them with paperwork, legal inquiries, intellectual property (IP) filing, and conflict resolution between creators.
Durioo has been admitted to join Y Combinator’s Winter 2022 (YC W22) team, surpassing 17,500 online line admissions worldwide, where less than 2,000 names were invited to a 10-minute online interview with YC.
Prior to COVID-19, companies selected for this interview had to physically perform in Silicon Valley. Although Sinan regretted not being able to visit Silicon Valley again, he felt lucky to have been chosen.
The YC team told Sinani that Durioo was one of the most unusual and exciting apps they found. Because Durioo is the first animation company to be invested in by the YC, which targets the Muslim market, the YC team described the market as unique.
At 1:30 a.m. (Malaysian time) after a touching conversation, Sinan and his team waited breathlessly for YC’s final decision.
Finally, an email arrived. “I have good news for you: We’d like to invite you to join this Y Combinator batch,” wrote Jared Friedman Scribd’s CTO and an email from Durioo’s YC Partner.
The rest was history, and Durioo is now one of 400 companies selected for the YC W22.
Based on a new standard agreement, YC will issue a $ 500,000 check to any company included in its batch program, which Sinan is grateful to have received.
Applicants may also receive additional funding after presenting their company to at least 2,000 investors on YC’s Demo Day, which will take place after a 3-month acceleration program.
Sinan is taking part in a 10-week online lineup that began on January 10, during the US era. Thus, he has had to accept a sleep schedule that allows him to work from noon to daylight and participate in YC programs.
Funding for technology startups
As I said, after Sinan Digital came out of Durian to launch Durioo, the new technology company was born from scratch.
“There is no income, no foreign capital injection, no IP. But what we had was a team, creative and most importantly, a great mission, ”said Sinan.
The 10-year-old creator of children’s animated content told his 50-year-old team that he will look for more investment to sustain Durioo first.
Ultimately, the funding will be used to make Durio’s dream of becoming a Disney child for Muslim children a reality, reaching 400 million young minds around the world.
Speaking to the Vulcan Post, Sinan revealed that he also hopes to one day become a unicorn in Durioo, which will benefit the launch financially and allow him to throw out high-quality Islamic content.
11 titles to be released this year
The official presentation of Durioo took place on January 12, 2022, at the Expo 2020 Dubai conference, where Durioo was. one of three animation studios there representing Malaysia.
When Durioo joined in August 2021, the group’s goal was to launch two Durioo Originals on YouTube in 2022. There was Little Ammar (a Cocomelon for Muslim children, referring to the popular Netflix singing series) and Mina Mila (Islamic-themed content for girls ages 5-10).
Its streaming platform, Durioo +, was scheduled to launch in 2023 Ramadan. With just two weeks left in the YC program, Sinan stated that this goal had been accelerated, and that Durioo + will be launched in February 2022. for a reason, ”he laughed.
So far, it has been reported that the performances have been well underway. The show’s commercials have also attracted the attention of friends in its industry, and it has shown interest in co-producing Durioo Originals to create three more.
Along with Zehni, POLYTAKO and Bubu Lala, Little Ammar and Mina Mila, Sinan expects to be available in the first quarter of 2022.
Based on the advice from YC’s “Make Something People Want,” Durio has spoken to parents of his audience to learn that kids want more than cartoons.
“We told ourselves that if we really wanted to be a platform for Muslim children, we had to do something they wanted: live action content, non-animated shows (DNA) from Durioo,” Sinan realized.
In line with this, Durioo will publish 6 DNA titles within its Durioo Originals, which will be injected with Islamic values and virtues.
Durioo + will be available to viewers around the world in February 2022 on Andriod, iOS, Andriod TV and Apple TV for a monthly fee of $ 7.99 (Malaysian fees have not yet been announced).
Pre-subscriptions are already open on the streaming site, and Sinan’s personal goal of Durioo + is to reach 3,000 subscribers by the end of March 2022.
Featured Image Credit: Sinan Ismail, CEO and founder of Durioo
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