SUMMARY
Report says Times Internet is also to participate in fundraise, Google mulling participation
In December of 2021, Mohalla Tech had raised $266 Mn in funding, sending its valuation soaring to $3.7 Bn
Mohalla Tech operates both ShareChat and Moj, which together have a combined user base of 340 Mn.
sharechat
’s parent company, Mohalla Tech, is now reportedly seeking to raise fresh funds from a host of marquee investors.
Sources told Inc42 that Singapore-based Temasek Holdings (which is an existing investor in the startup) would participate in the Series H round at a valuation of $5 Bn.
Bloomberg was the first to report the story. Quoting sources, the report said that the company could raise another $200 Mn in the coming days, adding that Times Internet would also participate in the fundraise.
Barely days ago, Inc42 had reported that Gurugram-based Times Internet had invested close to $60.5 Mn in ShareChat in an extended Series G round.
People familiar with development also told Bloomberg that tech giant, Google, was also mulling participating in the round.
ShareChat was founded in 2015 by Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Singh and Farid Ahsan. ShareChat positions itself as an Indian language social media platform, specialising in content in over a done Indic languages.
Mohalla Tech operates both ShareChat and Moj, which together have a combined user base of 340 Mn.
Funding Galore
This comes barely three months after Mohalla Tech raised $266 Mn in its Series G funding round that sent its valuation soaring to $3.7 Bn. The round was led by Alkeon Capital, with participation from investors such as Singapore’s Temasek, Moore Strategic Ventures, Harbourvest, and India Quotient.
In July last year, ShareChat had bagged $145 Mn in Series F funding round. Prior to that in April of 2021, the startup had raised $502 Mn in its Series E round that saw it entering the coveted unicorn club.
The home-grown social media startup raised close to $913 Mn in 2021 alone, taking the total funding raised by it to $1.77 Bn.
Mohalla Tech is backed by a slew of marquee investors that include Lightspeed Ventures, Snap Inc, Tiger Global, Twitter, among others.
At present, ShareChat is the highest valued social media platform in India. Locally, it competes with players such as Chingari, Mitron, Josh among others. Globally, ShareChat locks horns with big names like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
The murmurs also come on the heels of Moj announcing its merger with Times Internet-backed short video platform, MX TakaTak, late last month.
Mohalla Tech’s sales revenue grew a mere INR 9.4 Cr in FY20 to INR 80.3 Cr in FY21. Notably, expenses also rose 2X from INR 715 Cr in FY20 to INR 1,557 Cr in FY21.
In total, the social media startup’s losses widened to INR 1,460.6 Cr in FY21 from INR 676.8 Cr in FY20.
