According to two persons familiar with the sale discussions, the parent company of India’s ShareChat has raised almost $300 million in new capital from Alphabet Inc’s Google, media behemoth Times Group, and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, valuing the social media platform at nearly $5 billion. According to the sources, a deal might be revealed as soon as next week.
Mohalla Tech, ShareChat’s parent business, did not respond to a request for comment. Requests for comment from Google and Temasek were not immediately returned, and Reuters was unable to contact the Times Group.
Second Investment of Google
After backing Josh, which competes with ShareChat’s sister company Moj, this is Google’s second major investment in India’s short video industry. According to one of the individuals, Google’s investment in a bearish market for Indian start-ups demonstrates the desire for the short video industry as well as the start-investment up’s thesis.
India’s digital firms have been struggling to raise funding, after raising a record $35 billion in new funds in 2021, as corporate governance worries loom large for investors facing increased market volatility.
ShareChat and Others
Following a border battle with China in 2020, India banned ByteDance’s TikTok and certain other Chinese applications, resulting in the rise of short video apps like Moj and Josh. ShareChat has 180 million monthly active users at the moment. According to one of the sources, Moj and Mohalla’s newly purchased MX TakaTak has a combined user base of 300 million.
In a $266 million fundraising round led by Alkeon Capital and Temasek, ShareChat was last valued at $3.7 billion. Twitter and Snap are also investors in the company. If Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s proposal to buy Twitter is successful, Musk may have a stake in ShareChat of between 6% and 8%, according to the source.
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