[Update] Exclusive: ShareChat Raises $49 Mn Debt From Lightspeed, Temasek, Others

Update | April 15, 14:00 PM

ShareChat today formally announced raising $49 Mn via convertible debentures. The startup said that the capital will help it invest in its ad targeting technology as well as continue the growth of consumer transactions business on ShareChat Live and Moj Live.

The new funds will be utilised to bolster the startup’s robust monetisation plans and propel it on the path to break-even and beyond, ShareChat cofounder Sachdeva said.The startup also announced an organisation-wide ESOP bonus programme that will double the ESOP ownership for all of its current employees.

Orginal Story | March 27, 19:44 PM

Social media platform ShareChat has raised $48.8 Mn via convertible debentures from its existing investors, as per the startup’s regulatory filings. 

Existing investors, including Temasek, Lightspeed, HarbourVest, Moore Strategic, Alkeon Capital, and Tencent, participated in the Google-backed startup’s debt funding round.  

“This funding round will help the company navigate the path to profitability in the next 12 to 15 months,” a person aware of the matter told Inc42. 

The debt will be converted into equity in the next funding round. 

People aware of the matter told Inc42 that the startup continues to be in discussions with new as well as existing investors for a larger equity funding round. 

The fresh funding comes almost two years after ShareChat raised $255 Mn from Google, Temasek, Times Internet, among others. 

The startup has been on a cost-cutting spree since 2023. It laid off around 800 employees in three layoff exercises last year and also pulled the plug on its fantasy app platform Jeet11 and live commerce business.

These efforts have helped the startup bring down its burn rate to below $5 Mn per month and cut its loss, the people cited above said. 

ShareChat’s net loss grew 38% to INR 4,064.3 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 2,941.5 Cr in FY22. Revenue rose 62% to INR 540.21 Cr from INR 332.69 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Besides the layoffs, two cofounders of the startup – Bhanu Pratap Singh and Farid Ahsan – also resigned. Following this, they founded a robotics startup General Autonomy and raised $3 Mn seed funding for it last month from venture capital firms India Quotient and Elevation Capital.

Overall, ShareChat has raised a funding of over $1 Bn till date and counts the likes of Google, X (erstwhile Twitter), Tiger Global, and Tencent among its backers.