The social platform for regional language known as ShareChat has secured funds amounting to Rs 720 crore ($99 million) in a funding round. The particular round was led by existing backer Shunwei Capital. The other investors that participated in the round included Morningside Ventures of China and Jesmond Holdings, an affiliate of Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s DST Global.
Following this funding round, the valuation of the company will get a boost and will reach to Rs 3,332 crore ($460 million) according to the documents filed with Registrar of Companies.
With the funds raised, the company plans to foray deeper in markets like the Northeast, and also start working on monetizing its service next year through activities like advertising, influencer marketing, and in-app transactions.
Apart from this, other existing investors such as smartphone maker Xiaomi and venture capital firms SAIF Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners also invested a significant amount.
Prior to this, when the company raised money in December, the valuation of ShareChat was around Rs 431 crore ($67 million). Talking about the user base, the company has witnessed daily active users increase from 5 million in April this year to over 8 million now.
Founded in 2015 by IIT-Kanpur alumni Ankush Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan, and Bhanu Singh, the startup has over 50 employees and covers 14 regional languages. With this funding round, the company has raised about $124 million in total as of now.
The development comes on the back of increasing criticism and negative views against US-based social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp over fake news and privacy concerns. Also, ShareChat has rolled out an anonymous chat option, direct messaging and other features to increase user activity.