Glance has raised $195.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Glance's investors include Brkfst Club, Founders Fund, Future Ventures, Hercules Capital, Lux Capital, Mithril Capital Management, Presight Capital.
Glance is an Indian artificial intelligence-based consumer technology company founded in 2019, owned by InMobi Group, that reimagines smartphone lock screens as personalized hubs for AI-powered news, entertainment, shopping, live streaming, and gaming.[1][2][3] It builds platforms like Glance Smart Lock Screen, Roposo (immersive live streaming and short-video), and Nostra (a leading mobile gaming platform in India and Southeast Asia), serving over 100 million active users primarily in India by delivering vernacular, creator-led content directly on Android lock screens.[1][3][5] The company solves the problem of fragmented mobile content discovery by curating personalized experiences without requiring app opens, driving engagement through commerce, live events, and NFTs, with strong growth fueled by acquisitions, unicorn status in 2020 (valued over $1.2 billion), and backing from Google, Jio Platforms, and Mithril Capital.[1][2][3]
(Note: A separate U.S.-based Glance, founded around 2000 and celebrating 25 years in 2025, provides enterprise cobrowsing and guided CX tools for customer support; this profile focuses on the Indian lock screen company as the primary match for "technology company" in context.)[1][4][6]
Glance was co-founded in 2019 by Naveen Tewari (also InMobi founder), Abhay Singhal, Mohit Saxena, and Piyush Shah, incorporating in Singapore with headquarters in Bengaluru, India.[1][2][3] The idea emerged from Tewari's vision to transform idle lock screens into dynamic content portals, launching the revolutionary Glance Smart Lock Screen for Android smartphones in February 2019.[3] Early traction was explosive: it hit 50 million active users by August 2019 and 100 million by May 2020, powered by partnerships with OEMs and telcos.[3] Pivotal moments included $45 million funding from Mithril Capital in September 2019, unicorn status after $145 million from Google and Mithril in 2020, and strategic acquisitions like Roposo (November 2019 for short videos), Shop101 (2021 for social commerce), and Gambit (2022 for NFT gaming via Nostra).[2][3]
Glance rides the lock screen economy trend in emerging markets, capitalizing on Android dominance in India (over 90% share) where users spend minimal time in apps but check lockscreens 100+ times daily.[3][5] Timing aligns with rising mobile-first consumption post-COVID, vernacular content boom, and live commerce explosion (e.g., via Roposo), amplified by 5G rollout and cheap data.[2][3] Market forces like Jio's affordability and Google's investments favor Glance, positioning it against TikTok alternatives and gaming giants in a $100B+ Indian digital content market.[1] It influences the ecosystem by empowering creators, driving OEM lock screen innovations, and pioneering NFT gaming for Gen-Z, while InMobi ownership provides ad monetization scale.[1][2][3]
Glance is poised to dominate India's next-gen lock screen OS layer, expanding Nostra globally, deepening AI for predictive commerce/gaming, and leveraging 5G/AR for immersive experiences amid 400M+ smartphone users.[1][3] Trends like edge AI, Web3 gaming, and hyper-local live commerce will propel growth, potentially pushing valuation beyond $5B with new JVs or IPO. As mobile surfaces evolve, Glance's influence could redefine passive engagement, turning every glance into economic value—echoing its origin as a simple lock screen disruptor now shaping daily digital lives.[3]
Glance has raised $195.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $150.0M Series C in December 2020.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1, 2020 | $150.0M Series C | Brkfst Club, Founders Fund, Future Ventures, Hercules Capital, Lux Capital, Mithril Capital Management, Presight Capital | |
| Sep 1, 2019 | $45.0M Venture Round | Brkfst Club, Founders Fund, Future Ventures, Hercules Capital, Lux Capital, Mithril Capital Management, Presight Capital |
