Mohalla Tech, the Indian company that owns the ShareChat social network, raised $300 million this Monday, May 30, reports Reuters. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is one of the investors. It is accompanied by the Indian media giant, Times Group, and by a sovereign wealth fund from Singapore, Temasek. The application, which allows you to exchange videos and private messages, is now valued at nearly $5 billion.
The value of the ShareChat app has doubled in one year
The ShareChat application has already carried out several fundraisers, including one in July 2021. This had allowed it to be valued at 3 billion dollars, mainly thanks to an investment of 145 million dollars from the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore , Temasek. On Monday May 30, Google, in negotiation since January 2021, finally participated in the latest fundraising, allowing Mohalla Tech to collect $300 million.
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The company, which also owns short-form video apps Moj and MX TakaTak, is now valued at $5 billion. This is not the first time that an American company has invested in the Indian group. By April 2021, Twitter and Snapchat had helped grow Mohalla Tech, which was valued at $2 billion. A year later, the company’s value has more than doubled.
ShareChat currently has 180 million active users. Moj and MX TakaTak apps peak at 300 million combined users. This allows Mohalla Tech to occupy a strong position in the Indian social media industry. For comparison, the TikTok app accounted for 1 billion active subscribers worldwide in 2021.
India, a strategic territory for tech
Since TikTok was banned in India in 2020, local startups that offer short-form video streaming apps have seen tremendous growth. Google had already invested in this sector by injecting 100 million dollars in the Josh application, owned by the Indian company VerSe Innovation, a competitor of Mohalla Tech.
There is a real appetite from tech giants for the Indian startup market. In 2021, total investment in Indian tech companies reached a record $35 billion. Google still has a $10 billion investment plan in India, a strategic territory for the future of digital companies. It could be an interesting alternative in the face of a very government-controlled Chinese market.
However, following a record year in terms of growth, the Indian economy is facing a significant slowdown, leading to a drop in investments in 2022. This unfavorable economic context is compounded by the authoritarian Indian policy. India’s new regulations that end online anonymity will result in the closure of many businesses, such as VPN providers. A situation that will lead foreign investors to adapt their strategies.