Varun Duggirala, a prominent figure in the Indian advertising landscape and co-founder of the creative agency The Glitch, recently shared the strategic journey behind his new kids-focused content startup, Emoomee.
Duggirala, who is also a popular podcaster and author of the bestseller Everything is Out of Syllabus, revealed during an interview with Mashable India that his latest venture successfully secured funding on the reality show Shark Tank India.
The startup, which focuses on teaching life skills to children through animation, received investment interest from sharks Namita Thapar, executive director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, and Aman Gupta, co-founder of boAt.
The transition from running a high-scale advertising agency to building a niche intellectual property (IP) represents a significant pivot for Duggirala and his wife and co-founder, Pooja Duggirala.
Pooja Duggirala, a veteran marketing professional who previously served as the marketing manager for Femina and helped launch the DNA newspaper, joined Varun and his best friend Rohit Raj at The Glitch during its early years.
Together, they scaled the agency to over 250 employees across three cities before its eventual acquisition by the global marketing network WPP.
The inspiration for Emoomee stemmed from the couple’s personal experience as parents during the pandemic. Noticing a lack of high-quality, educational content that went beyond addictive “dopamine rushes” they began creating stories to explain complex concepts like empathy and anger to their daughter.
The startup utilizes YouTube Shorts to reach a global audience, scaling from 1,000 to one million subscribers in just four months through consistent daily uploads.
Duggirala emphasized the importance of building intellectual property rather than just providing services. He explained that while agency work is often commoditized, an IP-led business like Emoomee allows for expansion into books, toys, and global licensing.
This strategy was central to their pitch on Shark Tank India, where they sought to demonstrate the long-term value of their characters and stories beyond simple video views.
Reflecting on his early career, Duggirala noted that he started as an intern at MTV India, where he worked on the research team for the hit reality show Roadies. He credits his time at MTV and his later move to Channel V for teaching him how to create content that is culturally relevant.
He stressed that for any brand or creator to succeed today, they must be part of the “culture” or risk being ignored by an audience that is increasingly wary of traditional advertising.
Before launching Emoomee, the founders spent over a decade building The Glitch into one of India’s most successful digital agencies, handling major accounts for Netflix and Unilever.
Duggirala remains a vocal advocate for the creator economy, a term describing the ecosystem of independent content creators and the businesses that support them.
He continues to engage with his audience through his fitness content and his long-running podcast, Advertising is Dead, which explores the changing landscape of media and marketing.
