About Pencil
Pencil is a Media & Entertainment company based in Mumbai (India) founded in 2015 by Rabindra Nanda. Pencil is operated as a self-publishing and story-pitching platform. It operates on a Two-Sided Marketplace model. Pencil has raised $2.95 million across 6 funding rounds from investors including Mumbai Angels, LetsVenture and Rohan Builders. The company has 5 employees. Pencil was last valued at $5.48 million in February 2021. Its website thepencilapp.com draws about 27 thousand monthly visits. Its Indian entity One Point Six Technologies Private Limited reported revenue of ₹2.32 Cr. Pencil offers products and services including Book Publishing and Story Pitching. Its focus areas include Publishing and Digital Publishing. Its competitors include Pratilipi, Juggernaut and MatruBharti; 3 of its 3 listed competitors have raised funding.
Company details
Pencil is managed as an online platform for writers to self-publish books in paperback and ebook formats worldwide. It is designed to help users pitch stories or concepts for screen adaptations to studios through a marketplace. The platform is focused on enabling writers to monetize their work by removing traditional gatekeepers. Community engagement is facilitated to help stories gain visibility in the media and entertainment sector.
- Headquarters Mumbai, India
- Employees 5
- Founders Rabindra Nanda
- Stage Minicorn
- SectorsMedia & Entertainment
- Email••••••••
- Phone•••• ••••
- Website thepencilapp.com
- Social LinkedIn X Facebook Instagram
- Legal Name One Point Six Technologies Private Limited
- Date of Incorporation 22 Jun, 2007
- Jurisdiction Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Annual Revenue₹2.32 Cr
FY 2025 · +53% YoY
- Net Loss-₹1.65 Cr
FY 2025 · -71% margin
- EBITDA-₹71.6 Lakh
FY 2025 · -31% margin
- Total Equity Funding$2.95M (USD)
in 6 rounds
- InvestorsMumbai Angels
& 151 more
- Employee Count5
Associated legal entities of Pencil
Pencil operates through One Point Six Technologies Private Limited (active). Its filings, financials, charges and directors are on the company page.
| Legal entity | Status | Incorporated | Registered in | Revenue (FY 2025) | Employees | Directors | Company page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Point Six Technologies Private Limited CIN U22110MH2007PTC171902 | Active | 22 Jun 2007 | Mumbai, Maharashtra | ₹2.3 Cr | 5 | 2 | View details |
Products & Services of Pencil
Pencil offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including Book Publishing and Story Pitching.
Tools for writing, publishing, and selling books worldwide.
Platform to pitch stories for screen adaptations.
Funding Insights of Pencil
Pencil has successfully raised a total of $2.95M across 6 strategic funding rounds. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $2.95M
- Total Rounds 6
- First Round $30,715
(Sep 2017)
- Investors Count 152
All 6 funding rounds of Pencil with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2021 | Seed | – | Orbit Startups | – | |
| Feb 2021 | $1M | Seed | $5.48M | SOSV | |
| Jan 2020 | $908,353 | Seed | $4.21M | SOSV | |
| Apr 2019 | $865,000 | Seed | $••••• | Avnish Goyal | |
| Jul 2018 | $149,954 | Angel Round | $••••• | Sunny Nagpal | |
| Sep 2017 | $30,715 | Angel Round | $••••• | Sandipan Chattopadhyay | – |
| Date | Valuation | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 2021 | $5.48M | •••••••• |
| Jan 2020 | $4.21M | •••••••• |
| Apr 2019 | $••••• | •••••••• |
| Jul 2018 | $••••• | •••••••• |
| Sep 2017 | $••••• | •••••••• |
Full valuation and stage history of Pencil
Every valuation point, the growth-stage changes (minicorn, soonicorn, unicorn) and the dates behind them require an active premium plan.
- All valuation points
- Stage changes
- Dates
- Exports
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Last known valuation $5.48M (Feb 2021). 152 investors in total: 16 institutional and 136 angel.
Investors in Pencil
Pencil has secured backing from 152 investors, including venture fund, angel, and institutional investors. Prominent investors backing the company include Mumbai Angels, LetsVenture and Rohan Builders.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Startups are incubated across sectors without restrictions. | orbitstartups.com | Shanghai, China | ||
Venture capital and accelerator services are provided across multiple sectors. | sosv.com | Cork, Ireland | ||
Early-stage venture investments are facilitated by Mumbai Angels network. | 2006 | mumbaiangels.com | Mumbai, India | |
Venture capital and support services for startups in emerging technologies. | 2016 | sucseed.biz | Hyderabad, India | |
Investments are made in early-stage tech startups across sectors. | ipventures.in | Gurugram, India | ||
Venture capital and private debt fund focused on climate, agrifood, health, AI, and multiple sectors | artesianinvest.com | Sydney, Australia | ||
Venture capital fund focused on fintech and multiple sectors | Kolkata, India | |||
Cloud-based analytics and technology solutions for retailers are delivered. | 2015 | xelpmoc.in | Bengaluru, India | |
Medical devices, consumer products, logistics, and distribution services in India. | cmmgroup.in | Panaji, India | ||
Entertainment news is curated and ranked by social scoring algorithm. | 2005 | coevolvegroup.com | Bengaluru, India |
Investor details for Pencil
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
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Board of directors of One Point Six Technologies Private Limited (Pencil)
One Point Six Technologies Private Limited is the primary company behind Pencil. The board of One Point Six Technologies Private Limited currently have 2 directors; the longest-serving is Shantiswarup Nanda, appointed in 2007. 4 earlier directors have ceased.
| Director | Designation | Appointed | Tenure | Entity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shantiswarup Nanda DIN 02693556 | Director | 22 Jun 2007 | 19 yrs 4 mo | One Point Six Technologies Private Limited |
| Rabindra Kumar Nanda DIN 02664789 | Director | 22 Jun 2007 | 19 yrs 4 mo | One Point Six Technologies Private Limited |
People of Pencil
1 people are tracked at Pencil (1 in leadership); the tracked headcount is 5.
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
| Founder | Leadership |
Complete people profiles for Pencil
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
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Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Financials of Pencil
Figures of One Point Six Technologies Private Limited, the primary company behind Pencil, for FY 2025. Revenue was ₹2.32 Cr (+53% year on year). Net loss was -₹1.65 Cr (-71% margin). EBITDA was -₹71.6 Lakh (-31% margin). Revenue has grown at a compounded annual rate of +1% over three years and +5% over five years.
- ₹2.32 CrRevenue · FY 2025 · +53% YoY
- -₹1.65 CrNet loss · -71% margin
- -₹71.6 LakhEBITDA · -31% margin
- ₹39.7 LakhPaid-up capital
- 5Employees (provident fund records)
- +1%Revenue CAGR, 3 years
- +5%Revenue CAGR, 5 years
Balance sheet, profit and loss, cash flow and ratios of One Point Six Technologies Private Limited are on its company page.
Detailed financial statements for Pencil
Statement rows, ratios, five-year trends and downloadable financials of the group companies require an active premium plan.
- Statement rows
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- Downloads
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Timeline of Pencil
4 dated milestones of Pencil across 6 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Pencil is founded.
- Funding First funding round of $31K.
- Milestone Reaches Minicorn status.
- Funding Latest funding round, Seed,.
Competitors of Pencil
Pencil has 3 listed competitors in our database, 3 of them funded. They include Pratilipi, Juggernaut and MatruBharti.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pratilipi.com | 2014 | Bengaluru, India | $92.65M | 189 | Platform connecting readers and writers, offering digital literature in multiple languages | |
| juggernaut.in | 2015 | Delhi, India | $5.23M | 12 | Authors' writings are uploaded and automatically published via mobile platform. | |
| matrubharti.com | 2015 | Ahmedabad, India | $1M | App-based self-publishing platform for vernacular e-books is operated. |
Detailed competitors of Pencil
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
- Full competitor set
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Web traffic of Pencil
The website of Pencil (thepencilapp.com) receives about 27.5K visits a month.
- Monthly visits27.5K
▲ 6% vs previous month
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Pencil. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
namyapress.com | namyapress.com | 100% | #12,326,010 | – | |
papertownsindia.com | papertownsindia.com | 94% | #11,761,039 | – | |
| once.com | 94% | 65.4K | #503,792 | View details |
Top companies in Book & Digital Reading Platforms
3 companies that operate in the same segment as Pencil (Book & Digital Reading Platforms) in India, ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
An audio streaming platform for series and stories is operated. | 2018 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 196.68 M | USD 30.62 M | 1,044 | |
Platform connecting readers and writers, offering digital literature in multiple languages | 2014 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 92.65 M | USD 6.84 M | 162 | |
Audiobooks and stories in multiple Indian languages are provided. | 2018 | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India | USD 122.32 M | USD 12.17 M | 310 |
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Related news about Pencil
Complete news archive for Pencil
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Frequently Asked Questions about Pencil
Pencil was founded in 2015 and raised its 1st funding round 2 years after it was founded.
Pencil is headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is registered at Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Pencil is a funded company, having raised a total of $2.95M across 6 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Angel Round of $30.72K, raised on Sep 2017.
Pencil has 5 employees.
The primary company behind Pencil, One Point Six Technologies Private Limited, reported revenue of ₹2.32 Cr for FY 2025, up 53% year on year.
Pencil is managed as an online platform for writers to self-publish books in paperback and ebook formats worldwide. It is designed to help users pitch stories or concepts for screen adaptations to studios through a marketplace. The platform is focused on enabling writers to monetize their work by removing traditional gatekeepers. Community engagement is facilitated to help stories gain visibility in the media and entertainment sector.
Pencil's top competitors include Pratilipi, MatruBharti and Juggernaut.
Pencil offers Book Publishing and Story Pitching.
Pencil has 152 investors. Key investors include Mumbai Angels, LetsVenture, Rohan Builders, Xelp, and SucSEED.
The valuation of Pencil is $5.48M as of Feb 2021.
Pencil operates through One Point Six Technologies Private Limited.
The legal entities of Pencil currently have 2 directors, including Shantiswarup Nanda, Rabindra Kumar Nanda.