India's ShareChat raises US$266m from investors including Temasek

[NEW DELHI] Indian content-sharing platform ShareChat on Thursday (Dec 16) said it had raised US$266 million in fresh funding from US-based Alkeon Capital and some existing investors, pushing its valuation to US$3.7 billion.

The new investments, part of ShareChat's third funding round this year, was led by Alkeon and saw participation from Temasek and Moore Strategic Ventures, among others, the company said in a statement.

ShareChat raised US$145 million in July from Temasek and others at a valuation of around US$3 billion.

Indian content-sharing and short-video apps have become popular since New Delhi last year banned ByteDance's TikTok and some other Chinese apps following an India-China border clash.

ShareChat - which has 180 million active users - allows users to post content in 15 Indian languages. After TikTok was banned, the Indian firm also launched a similar short-video sharing app named Moj which has 160 million users and counts Meta Platforms's Instagram Reels as its key rival.

"Both our products have been leading the market ... This fresh funding will further strengthen our position and help us deliver immersive social experiences," Ankush Sachdeva, ShareChat's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The company will also use the funds to develop its apps' artificial intelligence capabilities, it said.

Social media and video-sharing apps in India have been sought after by investors who want to cash in on India's rapidly growing base of Internet and smartphone users. Indian consumers - both in urban and rural areas - are increasingly consuming digital video content through apps or streaming platforms.

ShareChat said in its statement that users of its Moj app spent an average 34 minutes every day consuming video content.

REUTERS