Indian social media ShareChat teeters on $3bn valuation after funding rally
Indian social media platform ShareChat is teetering on a valuation of $3bn after its latest funding round pulled in $145m.
It comes not even three months after the Bangalore-based startup bagged $502m in backing, which hoisted its valuation to $2.1bn.
With a climbing value, ShareChat has managed to secure a cool $911m in funding over the six years since it was started.
“This additional investment for Series F is a validation of our market leadership and a reflection of investor trust in our execution capabilities. We are immensely proud of what we have been able to achieve with Moj and ShareChat in the last 12 months,” co-founder and chief executive Ankush Sachdeva said.
Mirroring the global popularity of TikTok and Instagram’s transition to becoming a video-based platform, ShareChat launched a short video app called Moj last year.
It followed New Delhi banning TikTok, citing cybersecurity concerns over the China-based app.
Blossoming market
India’s tech startups have been blossoming into a multi-billion-dollar market as of late, due in part to the increasing uptake of the digital sphere in smaller Indian cities and towns.
ShareChat, which said it has some 160m users, has put most of its success down to reaching smaller communities in the country – a reach very few startups have yet achieved.
The valuations follows Flipkart’s eyewatering valuation of $37bn earlier this month, as foreign investors have hedged their bets on the growing market.
Amazon and L’Occitane just yesterday threw their weight behind online beauty brand MyGlamm, securing $71.3m in its bid to expand the business across South Asia.
The Mumbai-headquartered firm had previously raised $23.5m in its four-times oversubscribed Series C capital rally as the appetite for Indian startups swells.