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Mohalla Tech, the parent company of short video app Moj and Indic language social media platform ShareChat, has become the latest entrant to the Unicorn Club with a fund raise of $502 million in Series E, at a valuation of a little over $2.1 billion.
The investment has been led by Lightspeed Ventures and Tiger Global, along with participation from Snap Inc, Twitter and India Quotient, amongst others.
Indian short video market zooms to 180 million users in FY20
Commenting on the financing round, Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and co-founder, ShareChat, said, “We are at an exciting inflection point in our journey, where we are going after a massive opportunity with the right team in place and the backing of long-term investors who have a deep conviction in our mission. With ShareChat and Moj, we are well-positioned to build the largest AI-powered content ecosystem in India.”
“With this infusion of capital we will continue to aggressively grow our user base, build a world-class organisation in India and the US and further strengthen our creator community, AI-powered recommendation engine and platform health,” he said.
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Founded in 2015, Mohalla Tech has raised over $766 million across six fund-raising rounds, enabling ShareChat to substantially grow and differentiate itself by delivering a unique, tech-led social media experience. Moj, which launched in July 2020, has already made huge strides towards leadership in the short video space. Moj (120 million MAUs or monthly active users) and ShareChat (160 million MAUs) together, with a 280 million-strong user community, envision building a cohesive AI-powered content ecosystem to address India’s growing digital needs.
Indian short video market zooms to 180 million users in FY20
“As internet penetration increases, ShareChat’s leading content creation platform is poised to expand dramatically by bridging into online purchases of goods and services. Additionally, Moj is well-positioned to seize the opportunity presented by the growth of short video in India. We are impressed with the team’s understanding of these rapidly evolving technologies and its ability to execute quickly”, said Scott Shleifer, Partner at Tiger Global, in a statement.
Ravi Mhatre, Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners said , “ We are excited to witness the market-leading growth of Sharechat’s short video product Moj over the past year, with adoption in metro cities, towns and villages across the length and breadth of India. Lightspeed globally is honoured to double down on its partnership with ShareChat to build one of India’s iconic consumer internet companies.”
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