Indian social network ShareChat on July 27 said its parent has raised $145 million led by Temasek, valuing it at $2.88 billion, above the $2 billion it had been valued at in April.
Mohalla Tech, which runs ShareChat and short video app Moj, also raised money from Koren asset manager Mirae and Moore Strategic Ventures, helping the corporate double on its most aggressive period- both growth and fundraising wise.
Moneycontrol first reported on April 6 that Temasek was conducting due diligence for investment in ShareChat.
ShareChat has now raised nearly $650 million within the half-moon alone, its growth on a tear after Chinese social media apps like TikTok was banned by India last year. In April, it raised $500 million led by Tiger, Snapchat and Twitter.
The money are going to be wont to hire senior technology talent, building a best-in-class AI feed and attracting and incentivising a various creator base and amplifying platform health and safety.
“We are immensely pleased with what we’ve been ready to achieve with Moj and ShareChat within the last 12 months…with a monthly active user base of 160 million and 50+ million strong creator community, Moj during a year has grown into India’s favorite short video app,” co-founder and CEO Ankush Sachdeva said.
Launched by three IIT Kanpur alumni- Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan and Bhanu Singh in 2015, ShareChat was among the first players within the regional language content and social media space in India, an area with dozens of players within the last year. New entrants include MX Player’s TakaTak, Chingari, Mitron TV and Dailyhunt Josh’s- which all launched along side Moj.
James McIntyre, Senior director and COO at MSV said, “We are excited to partner with Moj as they build India’s premier short-form video platform, and are impressed by this management team’s speed and agility in capturing the chance . This round will help to accelerate that growth and permit Moj and ShareChat to still develop the simplest ecosystem for content creators and consumers alike.”
