Can TrueFan crack the celebrity engagement code?

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Editor's note: “Sir, please like my comment.” Or, “Please reply to my message.” Comments such as these are ubiquitous on social media pages of Indian celebrities, especially cine stars and cricketers. Videos and selfies with celebrities dominate platforms such as Instagram Reels (and TikTok, before it was banned by the Indian government). The huge market for celebrity/fan engagement has seen a rash of platforms spring up. With the onset of the pandemic, this sector seems to have witnessed a growth spurt. For instance, celebrity and fan engagement startup Gonuts has managed to raise Rs 3.5 crore in a seed funding round from marquee angel investors Sweta Rau and Archana Priyadarshini. Last month, Balaji Telefilms’ streaming arm ALTBalaji acquired a 17.5% stake in celebrity digital engagement platform Tring. The investment valued Tring at Rs 100 crore. In this crowded space, Mumbai-based TrueFan, founded in January 2020 by Nimish Goel, Nevaid Aggarwal and Devender Bindal, seems to be an outlier. I will come to this in a bit.  The company raised a seed round of $4.3 million, or over Rs 30 crore, from VC …