Chingari Launches Social Token, NFT Marketplace; Onboards Salman Khan As Brand Ambassador

Homegrown short video social media platform Chingari has unveiled its crypto token ‘$GARI’ and a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. 

The token was unveiled by Bollywood actor Salman Khan who will also be the brand ambassador of the NFT marketplace and the $GARI Token reward programme. Khan is also an investor in the short video making platform.

Just a week back, the startup completed a funding round of over $19 Mn from more than 30 venture funds and individual investors, with plans of building ‘$GARI’ with Solana, a public blockchain platform. 

The startup plans to build features to enable creator monetisation and build utility of the $GARI token. $GARI is aimed at transforming India’s creator ecosystem by enabling creators to set up their ecommerce venture that includes physical merchandise, NFT creations and the ability for the fan community to fund their artists, the company said in its statement.

Actor Salman Khan said, “The creators are shaping the future of entertainment. With the incorporation of the $GARI reward programme, the creators will further get motivated to create newer and more engaging videos on the Chingari app.”

Sumit Ghosh, CEO and cofounder, Chingari, said, “Chingari’s blockchain platform will allow users to obtain tokens for creating or watching content. The idea is to monetize creators’ talent and empower them via a social platform.”

Social tokens are blockchain-based initial coin offerings that connect the creators and consumers of content without an intermediary in the transaction. Plugged into the existing community-building efforts around the creator — fans buy or transact in the tokens, in exchange for exclusive content, merchandise, etc. — they help in driving actual value creation.

Founded in November 2018, Chingari lets users download and upload short videos and shop merchandise within the app, among other things. 

The Bengaluru-based startup competes with Instagram Reels, MX Takatak, Josh and Moj and claims to have 50 Mn monthly active users and 85 Mn downloads so far.

In February this year, Chingari entered the video commerce market to create an alternate stream of revenue for itself as well as the creators on the platform.

In April 2021, Chingari had raised $13 Mn led by mobile entertainment company OnMobile with participation from Bollywood actor Salman Khan.

Further, Chingari’s NFT marketplace comes at a time when a number of such platforms are coming up and Indian celebrities including Salman Khan and Amitabh Bachchan are either investing in or partnering with such marketplaces.

Earlier this week, Khan announced to roll out his digital collectibles in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFT) through BollyCoin, an ethereum-based marketplace.