Bengaluru-based social media platform ShareChat, operated by Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd, has closed a $520-million multi-tranche funding round at a valuation of $5 billion, per its announcement on Thursday.
While the first tranche worth $266 million was raised in December last year from Alkeon Capital, Temasek Holdings, HarbourVest, Moore Strategic Ventures, and India Quotient, the final tranche of $255 million was raised recently with the support of new investors, including Alphabet Inc’s Google and media giant Times Group.
ShareChat, which had attained the unicorn status in April last year, has cumulatively raised $1.2 billion since 2021, it said in a statement.
Last April, the company had 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.
“Despite strong headwinds, it is reassuring to see investor confidence in ShareChat’s efforts and potential to grow further. Over a year ago, we turned unicorn, and since then, we have been scaling and innovating at an exhilarating pace, further refining our offerings and expanding our operations. The coming year will be about capitalising on the scale and building robust revenue models,” said ShareChat CEO and co-founder Ankush Sachdeva.
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. It currently operates in various regional languages, including Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
The parent company of ShareChat runs short video platforms, Moj and TakaTak, besides the ShareChat app, which together cater to over 400 million users. Earlier this year, ShareChat had also acquired the short video app MX TakaTak from MX Media in a $700-million deal.
ShareChat has reported a surge in revenues in the past year as it has stepped up focus on monetising its various platforms, per the statement. The company claims to have built diversified monetisation avenues beyond advertising in areas like virtual gifting and video commerce. Virtual gifting is witnessing fast adoption on the ShareChat app, with the business line already at a $50 million ARR, which is set to more than double by year-end.