Social media platform ShareChat has raised $48.8 million funding via convertible debentures from its existing investors Temasek and Lightspeed, per media reports.
The financing was also joined by HarbourVest, Moore Strategic Ventures, Rimco and Alkeon.
Mohalla Tech, the parent entity of the vernacular social media platform ShareChat and short video entertainment app Moj, has issued 4,895 Series I debentures at an issue price of $10,000 each to raise the amount, Entrackr reported.
The development was first reported by Inc42.
The fresh infusion in Sharechat comes after a gap of almost two years. In June 2022, the unicorn had closed a $520-million multi-tranche funding round at a valuation of $5 billion. ShareChat became a unicorn in April 2021 when it raised $502 million led by Lightspeed Ventures and Tiger Global, along with participation from Snap Inc, Twitter, and India Quotient, among others, at a $2.1 billion valuation.
However, Sharechat’s valuation had reportedly shrunk to $1.5 billion towards the end of 2023 owing to an extended funding winter and an overall economic slowdown. The company was also struggling to maintain profitability.
In January 2023, the company had also laid off 20% of its workforce, impacting around 500 employees. Later in the same month, ShareChat’s co-founders Bhanu Pratap Singh and Farid Ahsan stepped down from executive roles at the company.
Founded in 2015 by Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan, and Bhanu Pratap Singh—graduates of IIT Kanpur—ShareChat is a vernacular social media platform that allows users to share their opinions, record their lives and make new friends.