The market signal behind India’s new South Asian tech push

As ZKTOR crosses half a million plus beta users across four countries, Softa’s developing local advertising model gives investors a sharper view of trust, commerce and regional scale.

Sri Lanka is becoming a useful market signal for investors watching ZKTOR’s South Asian push.

Developed by Softa Technologies, ZKTOR has crossed half a million plus beta users across India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, with Gen Z and young women driving much of the early adoption.

That response gives the privacy led Indian social media platform more than early traction.

It creates a base to test whether trust, data safety and local relevance can support a larger commercial model across the region.

At the centre of that model is a proposed hyperlocal advertising network now being developed within the Softa ecosystem.

Its logic is clear. South Asia’s local advertising market remains large, fragmented and deeply dependent on language, relationships, trust and geography.

Small businesses, tutors, clinics, service providers, creators, women led enterprises and local institutions often need credible nearby visibility more than broad exposure.

The planned network is intended to organise that layer through a transparent local advertising framework that could connect businesses with nearby audiences inside a more trusted digital environment.

This is where the platform’s architecture becomes relevant to investors.

It is being positioned as an all in one Indian social media platform for an age shaped by artificial intelligence, deepfakes, cyber insecurity and distrust of unsafe online spaces.

Its design includes privacy and data safety by design, Zero Knowledge Server Architecture, No URL Media Architecture, no behaviour tracking and default multi layer encryption.

These are not only user protection claims.

They could become commercial assets if they help build an environment where families, women, youth, creators and small businesses feel safer participating.

For Sri Lanka, this matters because digital adoption is shaped by social trust as much as technology.

A cleaner, predictable and family safe platform can become more usable in homes, youth circles, schools and local business settings.

If early appeal among Gen Z and young women continues, it may show that South Asian users are willing to trust an Indian built platform when it offers dignity, control and local relevance.

Softa founder Sunil Kumar Singh adds investor appeal by combining rural Indian roots with over two decades of exposure to Finland’s disciplined, rights-conscious design culture.

He argues user protection tech existed for years but was rarely made default, while Softa says its ecosystem was built over years by a large expert team without conventional pressure-driven funding.

The wider stack strengthens the market case: Subkuz targets hyperlocal news and diaspora communities, Ezowm hyperlocal commerce, Hola AI intelligence and safety, and the emerging ad network could monetise this ecosystem across South Asia’s local economy.

With early traction, Softa plans beta expansion to Bhutan, Pakistan and Maldives, making Sri Lanka not just a rollout market but a testbed for whether Indian trust tech can scale into South Asian commercial infrastructure.

Image caption - At the press Conference.