On April 5, 2022, VerSe Innovation, the Indian parent company of news aggregator Dailyhunt and short video app Josh, successfully raised $805 million in a Series J funding round. This round was notably led by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), a federal Crown corporation. Other participants included Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, Luxor Capital, Sumeru Ventures, along with existing investors such as Sofina Group and Baillie Gifford. This funding, valuing VerSe Innovation at $5 billion, significantly up from $3 billion the previous year, will bolster its position as a leading local language AI-driven content platform in India.

VerSe Innovation plans to enhance its AI/ML and data science capabilities, aiming to solidify its leadership in user engagement and retention metrics. The company intends to deepen monetization strategies, including influencers, e-commerce, live streaming, and expanding into Web3 experiences. It targets over 50 million creators and an ecosystem experiencing over 80 billion video plays per month.

Founders Virendra Gupta and Umang Bedi emphasized the investment's role in expanding offerings, monetization models, and providing Web 3.0 experiences globally, aiming for an IPO-scale business. Frank Su, CPP Investments' Managing Director and Head of Private Equity Asia, highlighted VerSe Innovation's strong position in India's burgeoning digital content sector.