WLDD secures strategic investment from Adfactors PR & Vikas Khemani

WLDD, a new-age content distribution and creator-led marketing company founded in 2018, has announced that Adfactors PR, India’s largest public relations firm, and Vikas Khemani, Founder & CIO at Carnelian Asset Management & Advisors, have acquired a stake in the company.

The investment will enable WLDD to scale its technology, creator ecosystem, content platforms and brand solutions as businesses increasingly compete for relevance, trust and recall in the attention economy. This investment follows WLDD’s previous funding round in 2023, which was led by Negen Capital.

WLDD has maintained a strong growth trajectory, recording an impressive 55% CAGR over the last three years. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company has grown to over 350 employees, with offices in Mumbai and Delhi. The firm works with leading brands such as Amazon, Coca-Cola, OpenAI, Spotify, Netflix, Tata Motors, Philips, Rapido, Tinder, Audible and more.

Built at the intersection of communities, creators, content and distribution, WLDD helps brands earn and sustain attention across fast-moving digital culture. Its proprietary platform, Solo, connects brands with creators and enables campaign execution using AI, tech and human judgement. Meme’d helps transform brand content into highly shareable short-form formats, Crunchy Studios adds production capabilities across branded and digital-first content, while Imagined Studio functions as WLDD’s end-to-end product and brand design studio, focused on research-led brand building, positioning and digital experiences.

WLDD has also expanded its media and content footprint through the acquisition of ScoopWhoop, the popular content and lifestyle platform. Together, these assets position the company as a full-stack attention infrastructure company for brands looking to engage consumers through creator networks, short-form storytelling, community-led distribution and owned media channels.

For Adfactors PR, the investment marks a strategic expansion of its digital and creator-led offerings for its 700-plus retained clients. Nijay N. Nair, Chief Executive Officer of Adfactors PR, who also leads the firm’s M&A and global initiatives, will join WLDD’s board.

Arihant Jain, Co-founder and CEO, WLDD, said, “When we started WLDD, we saw that memes, creators and internet communities were not just entertainment; they were becoming the new language of attention. Today, brands need more than campaigns – they need cultural understanding, speed, distribution and credibility. With the support of Adfactors PR and Vikas Khemani, we are building WLDD as the partner of choice for brands that want to create lasting currency in the attention economy.”

Madan Bahal, Co-founder and Managing Director, Adfactors PR, said, “Reputation and influence are being reshaped by digital culture, creator communities and the speed at which narratives now travel. For communications consultancies, staying relevant requires investing in new capabilities at the intersection of media, markets, technology and earned influence. WLDD has built a distinctive and entrepreneurial platform for this new world, and we are excited to explore the synergies from this partnership.”

Vikas Khemani, Founder & CIO, Carnelian Asset Management & Advisors, said, “In three decades of investing, I have learnt that great businesses are ultimately a bet on great founders. Arihant and the WLDD team have that rare combination of energy, hunger to build and obsessive client-centricity. India’s attention economy is at an inflection point, with spends shifting from traditional media to creator-led distribution, and WLDD is well positioned at the centre of that shift. I am delighted to invest in WLDD in my personal capacity.”

The investment comes at a time when Indian brands are rethinking how they build influence across fragmented digital platforms. As audiences increasingly consume content through creators, communities and short-form formats, WLDD intends to use the capital to deepen its creator marketplace, strengthen technology-enabled campaign execution, scale its media properties and expand its design and brand-building capabilities.