4 thoughts on audio social platforms from Vikas Malpani, co-founder of Leher

Earlier this year, when Clubhouse became a global sensation, a three-year-old Indian company called Leher decided to compete head-on with the Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup. Serial entrepreneur Vikas Malpani started Leher in 2018 along with Atul Jaju, former senior vice president at Goldman Sachs. For the first two years, the company chugged along but didn’t demonstrate significant growth. But Clubhouse’s overnight popularity in 2021 changed that. Malpani decided to emulate Clubhouse’s format and let users create private groups to invite select friends and acquaintances for live conversations. Now, Leher has over 300,000 users who log on to the platform each month to discuss the startup scene, cryptocurrencies, films, spirituality, religion, and more. It aims to reach the 1 million mark in the next six months. Backed by Orios Venture Partners, Leher was selected for Google’s accelerator program, Google for Startups, in November 2020. We spoke with Malpani about Leher leveraging Clubhouse’s popularity and its revenue model. The following interview has been edited and consolidated for clarity and brevity. KrASIA (Kr): How has Leher evolved since its inception? Vikas Malpani (VM): At first, Leher was a platform for users to record and share their thoughts. The second iteration was to build a…
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