Firework raises $55 million in Series A funding

This round of funding was backed by investors GSR Ventures, IDG, Lightspeed, and supported by Sumitomo Corporation, Asahi

by exchange4media Staff
Published: Mar 25, 2021 12:18 PM | 4 min read

Silicon Valley-based web stories platform, Firework has raised $55 Million in series A funding, backed by investors GSR Ventures, IDG, Lightspeed, and supported by Sumitomo Corporation, Asahi. This investment will drive the imminent shift from today’s popular centralised internet or Internet 2.0 to a more decentralised environment of the future or internet 3.0. Firework’s mission is to unite websites against the exploitative walled gardens and power the open web for the next 20 years.

While Firework’s global web stories initiative focuses on delivering vertical short video innovations for websites and web-based digital assets, their operation across the open web, promoting a decentralised environment, will drive the new digital economy. With more than 450 million monthly views and pacing to exceed 1 billion in 3 months, Firework has embraced India's first policy that makes the “mobile-born” country a hub for rolling out strategies and innovations.

Firework India CEO Sunil Nair said “Firework is delighted to have some of the world’s top VCs as our investors and it validates our belief and work in the open web and what it will mean for businesses, users, and countries in the future. Firework is strongly built on the values of the open web and decentralised internet and will lead the initiative to make the web a more democratic space for all. Our journey in India over the last 15 months is marked by growth, success, and learning, which puts us that much closer to realizing our open web dreams”

In an Internet 2.0 model, simple business websites, while considered user experience in any communication strategy, rely far too heavily on driving their audiences off-site into alternative channels. In fact, a recent report by HubSpot suggests that 55% of website visitors spend less than 15 seconds browsing. This is driven by poor user experience.

The success of a website is generally determined by the time spent on a website, a metric that has been steadily declining. However, with Firework, any simple text and image-based website or e-commerce platform can deliver the social media like immersive and engaging experience with swipe-able, exciting, brand-focused vertical short videos. This remarkable capability has transformed Firework into an essential technology medium like that of email client or web hosting. Nair further added “Firework has created an ecosystem with which it is empowering both publishers and brands to independently be able to offer the best of social media without having to share user data and compromise on privacy issues. Our existing publishers and brands are deriving much more value in the form of engagement, stickiness for their own platform rather than contributing to the social media platforms.

According to Firework President of Global Business Jason Holland, “Firework will power internet for the next 2 decades with vertical video web stories as a currency. As we upgrade and connect the global open web for Internet 3.0, publishers and businesses will leverage one another in creating a unified content consumption experience that’s never been made available. All of this is driven by Firework technology, content creation tools, e-commerce capabilities, monetisation innovation, and data-first capabilities. We will exceed 5 billion monthly views by Q4 2021.”

The popularity of “Stories” format vertical short videos and its growth is validated by Firework’s current publisher partners that include India’s top telecom operators like Jio, Airtel, and VI, in addition to Google and other mainstream media publishers. Publishers have often had difficulty deriving optimum engagement with their users and Firework helps drive decentralised engagement. Holland states, “Firework will empower all websites in strengthening their e-commerce, advertising sales, and audience engagement infrastructure.”

Firework in India has over 200 publishers, assisting each of them to optimize their presence on the web with the use of vertical short video web stories. Firework’s web story technology is transforming how small businesses engage with their audience, driving towards deeper market penetration. Firework goes against the basic principles of the powerful big tech giants, revolutionizing open protocols of the internet into the future.

Published On: Mar 25, 2021 12:18 PM

Tags Funding Sunil Nair Firework Jason Holland