Source: Think Expand Ltd
Misfits, a Gurugram-based startup that connects people through hobby-based offline communities, has raised ₹5 crore in a seed funding round co-led by Info Edge Ventures and Better Capital. The startup already raised an undisclosed amount from Titan Capital.
Founded in 2022 by Shashwat Narhatiyar, Chaitanya Dhawan, Saurabh Sharma, and Shaswat Kar, Misfits is on a mission to create meaningful relationships offline for people through a shared interest. In a time when many social relationships happen online, Misfits is offering a fresh take, stressing on real-life meet-ups around interests and hobbies.
The company plans to use the money it raised to enhance mobile platform usability, and to expand into additional urban cities in India. Misfits stated in a press release, they will expand the platform to become more easy to use, with more ways for individuals to boost, find and develop their own communities based on shared hobbies.
Misfits is connecting people with aligned interests and gives them a way to belong to clubs based on their hobbies – whether it’s a love of football, art, music, journals, or quiz nights. The platform supports club members and club leaders. Club leaders are independent organizers and represent themselves while organizing the weekly meetups at local venues. The club aims to bring people together, have fun, to socialize and almost feel like you’re sponsoring vibrant socials outside of your normal city routines.
Since it started operations, Misfits has been growing organically. The startup reports that it has received over 25,000 app downloads with no paid ads to date. Misfits has also hosted more than 3,000 social meetups, demonstrating a tangible need for people to connect offline and establish real relationships.
The Misfits team is convinced that hobbies are a strong way to connect people in authentic ways, and wants to create safe and encouraging spaces for those connections to develop, and ultimately create strong, healthy communities.
With this new funding Misfits intends to explore and enter new territories while also reaching more users. They are especially focused on enhancing the app experience, users will be able to easily identify clubs nearby, with opportunities to connect with other similar interests, while attending their meetups consistently.
As cities grow and digital fatigue sets in, platforms like Misfits offer a valuable way to create real-world social bonds.
