Moving Beyond Algorithms: Culture Raises ₹2 Crore to Build Safer, Interest-Led Online Communities

Anurag Rangineni, Founder and CEO of Culture

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], January 19: 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 funding has been raised by ART Pvt Ltd, the parent company of Culture, and will be used to accelerate product development, expand community initiatives, and strengthen safety-focused platform infrastructure.

Founded by Anurag Rangineni, Culture positions itself as an alternative to algorithm-driven and anonymous social platforms. Instead of prioritising follower counts or content virality, the platform focuses on interest-led one-on-one video interactions, verified profiles, and real-time moderation to enable more meaningful digital connections.

“Social media today rewards attention, not connection,” said Anurag Rangineni, Founder and CEO of Culture. “We are building Culture to solve that. 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.”

Culture enables users to discover and 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 that once dominated this space, Culture places a strong emphasis on accountability and user safety, using real profiles, phone verification, and AI-powered moderation that automatically disconnects interactions involving nudity, harassment, or nuisance.

The platform’s vision has been shaped by the rise and fall of earlier random chat platforms, many of which struggled to balance spontaneity with safety. Culture aims to preserve the spontaneity users valued while eliminating the risks that ultimately led to the decline of such platforms.

“Trust is the biggest deficit in today’s digital communities,” Rangineni added. “Culture is built from the ground up with safety and intent as core principles. We believe real communities can only grow when people feel secure enough to be themselves.”

The newly raised capital will also support the rollout of creator-led ‘Spaces’, a feature that allows creators and community leaders to host live discussions, events, and hybrid online-offline experiences. Spaces forms a key part of Culture’s monetisation strategy, enabling ticketed events, targeted event promotion, and long-term partnerships with offline venues such as cafés, clubs, and cultural spaces.

Commenting on the investment, Acuvest Infra highlighted Culture’s differentiated approach to building sustainable digital communities.

“Users are increasingly moving away from noisy, performative platforms toward smaller, safer, and more meaningful communities,” said a spokesperson from Acuvest Infra. “Culture’s focus on explicit interests, verified users, and community-driven engagement positions it well for the next phase of social networking.”

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 expanding to global markets, with a

longer-term roadmap that includes premium subscriptions, creator monetisation tools, and native advertising aligned with user interests.

With its seed funding in place, Culture aims to build a global platform where human connection comes before algorithms, and where digital spaces feel less like feeds and more like conversations.