Culture, a human-first social networking platform built around shared interests and real-time conversations, has raised ₹2 crore in seed funding from Acuvest Infra. The investment has been raised by ART Pvt Ltd., the parent company of Culture, and will be deployed to accelerate product development, expand community-led initiatives, and strengthen the platform’s safety-first infrastructure.
At a time when mainstream social media platforms are increasingly criticised for prioritising attention and virality over genuine interaction, Culture is positioning itself as an alternative focused on meaningful, interest-driven connections.
“Social media today rewards attention, not connection. We are building Culture to change that,” said Anurag Rangineni, Founder and CEO of Culture. “The future of social networking lies in meaningful conversations built around shared interests—not follower counts or endless scrolling. Culture is designed to help people feel heard, not performed.”
Safety and trust form a core pillar of the platform’s philosophy. Rangineni added that Culture has been designed from the ground up to ensure users feel secure enough to express themselves authentically. “Trust is the biggest deficit in today’s digital communities. Real communities can only grow when people feel safe, accountable, and respected,” he said.
A significant portion of the newly raised capital will support the rollout of creator-led ‘Spaces’, a new feature that enables creators and community leaders to host live discussions, events, and hybrid online-offline experiences. Spaces is expected to play a central role in Culture’s monetisation strategy, allowing for ticketed events, targeted promotions, and long-term collaborations with offline venues such as cafés, clubs, and cultural hubs.
Commenting on the investment, a spokesperson from Acuvest Infra highlighted Culture’s differentiated approach to digital community building.
“Users are increasingly moving away from noisy, performative platforms toward smaller, safer, and more meaningful communities. Culture’s focus on explicit interests, verified users, and community-driven engagement positions it well for the next phase of social networking,” the spokesperson said.
Currently in its early growth phase, Culture is expanding through college activations, café and brewery partnerships, creator collaborations, and organic community-building initiatives. The company plans to scale across major Indian cities before exploring global markets. Its longer-term roadmap includes premium subscriptions, creator monetisation tools, and native advertising aligned with user interests.
Founded by Anurag Rangineni, Culture positions itself as a thoughtful alternative to algorithm-driven and anonymous social platforms. Instead of optimising for virality, the platform emphasises interest-led one-on-one video interactions, verified profiles, and real-time moderation.
Culture enables users to connect through AI-driven, interest-based video matching, allowing conversations to develop organically around shared passions such as music, startups, travel, wellness, and creative pursuits. Unlike anonymous chat platforms of the past, Culture prioritises accountability and safety through real profiles, phone verification, and AI-powered moderation that automatically disconnects interactions involving nudity, harassment, or nuisance behaviour.
Inspired by the rise—and decline—of earlier random chat platforms, Culture aims to retain spontaneity while eliminating the risks that once undermined user trust. With fresh capital in place, the company is working towards building a global social platform where human connection comes before algorithms, and digital spaces feel less like feeds and more like conversations.
By: Arushi Agarwal
