Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul><li>ShareChat has raised a total of $224 million, with the latest Series D funding of $100 million from Twitter</li><li>The platform is now looking at starting its monetization journey and is reaching out to brands that could advertise on its platform</li><li>The platform’s aim is to get every Indian on to the internet, to a social network of its choice where they can converse in a language they are comfortable in</li></ul>It’s been four years since ShareChat, India’s homegrown regional social networking platform came into being. The platform came into the limelight after it raised $100 million funding in Series-D from Twitter, bringing the total raised in funding to $224 million. The company that was founded in 2015 by CEO Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Pratap Singh, and Farid Ahsan, currently has a strong user base of 60 million. It hasn’t been making any money till now, because according to Sunil Kamat, Chief Business Officer, ShareChat, the platform was in the growth-hack mode. As the platform is now starting its monetization journey, it is not only reaching out to brands to partner with them but also planning a major hiring spree. It plans to expand its team from its current strength of 250 to 400 within the next three to four months. While they haven’t put a target figure to where they want to be in the next few years, Kamath shares that for them, the priority is to get more and more people onto the internet and present them with a platform where they are comfortable conversing and sharing their opinions. Edited excerpts: Q) It’s been four years since ShareChat started its journey. How has it been so far? We came into being four years ago, before the data revolution happened. Our journey has been pretty impactful till now. Our co-founders saw a gap in the social media landscape early on and saw a large opportunity for a regional social platform, and that’s where it all began. It's good to be early in the space and we are glad to be at the forefront of change because a lot of people are now trying to mimic our platform. It's a good feeling. Q) How big is the team right now, and how do you plan to scale it up? We will be hiring a lot of talent for the company across various units. Our strength is currently at 250, which we plan to scale up to 400 in the next four months. Q) You say you aren’t chasing targets right now. What are you in it for then? One thing that India has been missing is the ability to get everybody on board. For us, it’s about getting every Indian user to be on a social network of his choice and to make him comfortable with his language. What motivates us is the thought of bringing every Indian user to the Internet and thereby help improve his quality of life over a period of time. Q) What has your revenue model been so far? Our revenue model will be ad-based. Till now, we have been completely focused on growth. However, we are not in this for the short-tem. Our aim is to become one of the largest social networks in India, which means we will be heavily acquisition-based. Now that we have acquired users, it's good to open up to partners, to reach the audience. It's good for our audience too, as they have brands coming on board that they can interact with brands. We will end up building our own journey because it's always been that way for us. We never had parallel system to look up to. But people tend to replicate ShareChat’s journey which is overwhelming. Q) While you’ve been in existence for four years, you haven’t spoken about the platform too much. How have you been reaching out to your audience? Our audience belongs to the Tier II, III and IV markets, so we come up with a lot of regional communication. It's about who you want to communicate to. If I wanted to attract the investor community, I would talk to the mainline media. We are doing a lot of work in the regional side; we work with a network where we get access to regional print, television. However, now that we are starting to monetize the platform, you will see a lot more of us. We were in this growth hack mode all these years and didn’t have too much to talk about. We were just putting our heads together, getting the product fitment right, the initial engagement metrics in place and then scaling up with the acquisition of consumers and audience retention. That journey continues. Now we are aiming at accelerating the reach for the platform, getting people to know about ShareChat and build monetization opportunities for the platform, to see how we can get brands to engage with audiences because it’s a fairly new audience for them as well. Q) You have seen good growth in terms of your consumer base. What have you done right? As a platform, we are very data and insights driven. Since we are a User Generated Content platform, our consumers create content for other users to consume. So, a lot of our learning comes from our users. We see people behaving in a certain manner and modify our platform according to the needs of our consumers. We have a comment section on the platform where we observed people started asking for each other’s numbers and other details. Seeing this, we enabled a chat feature. We also observe the kind of content people are consuming on the platform. Sometimes, a nicely edited content might necessarily not do as well as another piece of normal content that people connect better with. So, these are the insights which we pick up. We unlearn and learn again and that's what keeps us going. Q) Going ahead, what will be your marketing strategy? A lot of our marketing will be focused on driving engagement for consumer on content. We will focus on encouraging consumers to use our camera feature. On the other side, we want to build monetization through brands and marketing channels. Q) Have you seen a lot of interest from marketers? We are still at a very early stage because we are just starting that journey now. I have met top FMCG brands and had amazing conversations. They are the ones who are giving us ideas about how they can use the platform. This is probably the first time that brands will have the ability to put up ads in 14-15 languages on a single platform. It's a challenge and an opportunity at the same time because I don't think digital agencies are equipped to run campaigns in more than a few languages. Q) Are you planning to expand to more languages? As a country, we have 22 official languages. We would love to evaluate a language on the basis of what it brings to the table, whether there’s a significant upside of that language. We have also done dialects like Rajasthani, Haryanvi and Bhojpuri because we are a very visual platform in terms of content. We recently brought in Urdu too. We are currently building a team of people who would be well-versed in these languages too, to be able to help consumers. We have teams for various languages and each of them has learning of their own language. What works in 'A' might not work in 'B' but could work in 'C'. So, they work independently, but there is a lot of common understanding of engaging content. Q) With this new round of funding coming in, what will your key focus areas be? The new round of funding hasn’t changed things much at our end. It's more of a financial transaction at this stage but with every round you raise, you become more responsible, towards your shareholders, and investors. So, we really have to make sure that we have very good stories.

ShareChat is growing its team from 250 to 400 as it moves to monetize its 60 million user base

<ul><li><keyword id="6485927" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="realme" source="Orion">Realme</keyword> 9i 5G Starts at ₹14,999</li><li>The smartphone is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 810 5G SOC</li><li>Realme 9i 5G packs in a 5000 mAh battery with 18W flash charging</li></ul>Realme launched the 9i 5G - the 5G ready variant for the existing budget smartphone <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/realme-9i-smartphone-review/articleshow/89659079.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Realme 9i</a> . The brand's success with its numeric line-up is strong in its portfolio. After all, it’s the under ₹20,000 price bracket where you see the most action. The 9i 5G is an attempt to reintroduce a successful product with better SoC and other cosmetic changes. But is it enough to garner your attention? I tell you that in my in-depth review. Price &amp; Availability The Realme 9i 5G is available in 2 variants. A base variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage is available for a price ₹14,999. Then there is another variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage available for ₹16,999. You can buy the Realme 9i 5G from Flipkart &amp; Realme’s D2C website. Design <div type="image" title="Realme 9i 5G has a premium in-hand feel" msid="93641396" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Realme 9i 5G has a premium in-hand feel&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Realme 9i 5G doesn’t take a leap from the original 9i’s design, but there are some cosmetic changes that differentiate it from its predecessor and make it stand out. Like the flat-edged sandwich design. The curves are gone that we saw on the original 9i, and the 5G variant looks more premium. I personally like flat-edged designs, not only does it provide a better grip, but looks better as well. The 9i 5G is also fairly lightweight at 187 grams, and despite its big size, the phone is easy to carry. It’s also very slim at 8.1mm, given it packs in a 5000 mAh battery. <div type="image" title="The 9i 5G sports a flat edged design which makes it easy to hold" msid="93641350" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The 9i 5G sports a flat edged design which makes it easy to hold&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Realme is playing on the colour treatment on the 9i 5G. This new CD design is inspired by the theme of this year's MET Gala. Fashion is not my strong suit; maybe that’s why I am not a big fan of this Metallica Gold colour. It’s a bit over the top for my taste. But as they say, looks are subjective, so I took an opinion from my peers. It was a 50-50, with half of them liking it, and the rest were not very impressed. The back is plastic and registers a serious amount of smudges combined with the gold colour scheme that sometimes spoils the look of the smartphone. 9i 5G is also available in a soulful blue and rocking black colour, which I found to be much more subtle and appealing. That will be my suggestion if you are planning to get this device. <div type="image" title="Metallica Gold color retains noticeable smudges" msid="93641449" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Metallica Gold color retains noticeable smudges&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Where the brand has truly succeeded is in the treatment of the camera modules. There is no protruding camera bump here, instead, it’s a clean and minimalistic layout with the three sensors. Other design characteristics check all the boxes you expect from a device in this price range. On the right side of the device, you will find the power button doubling up as a fingerprint sensor. It’s worth mentioning that it is very snappy for a budget phone, as it registers and unlocks the phone in a jiffy. So far, I haven’t found a need to press the power button to unlock the device, a simple tap does the job. On the left side, you will find the volume rockers. <div type="image" title="There is a 3.5mm headphone jack on the device" msid="93641475" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;There is a 3.5mm headphone jack on the device&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> On the bottom, you will find a USB Type-C charging port, a speaker grill, and a microphone. Right next to them is a headphone jack. Yes, the beauty of this price segment is the having these endangered features. On the top left, you will also find the SIM card slot. This is a 3-in-1 unit that supports 2 Nano SIMS and a Micro SD card. Unfortunately, the device has no official IP rating, which is not surprising given the price point. So yes, you need to be careful with the device around water. Display <div type="image" title="There is a 6.6-inch FHD+ display on the 9i 5G" msid="93641493" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;There is a 6.6-inch FHD+ display on the 9i 5G&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Realme 9i 5G features a 6.6-inch display with FHD+ resolution (2400x1080p). While the display is big, I am not a big fan of the teardrop notch. More so because we get a punch-hole treatment on the regular Realme 9i. This is a bit of a downgrade, in my opinion Apart from this, the display performs like a standard LCD panel, as one might expect. It is adequately bright with 400 nits of peak brightness, but viewing the display outdoors can be a struggle, especially with text. Otherwise, it’s a good screen if you like to watch videos on your smartphone as it produces vivid colours and ample details - a favourable setting for watching movies on it. It’s worth noting that it doesn’t support HDR content on streaming applications. Yet, I would say that this is a good display at its price and will not disappoint you. Unfortunately, there is no always-on display option here. Where Realme truly surprised me was the refresh rate on the panel. It peaks at 90Hz, but that’s not it; it features an auto-select feature. This feature allows the smartphone to switch refresh rates between 60 and 90Hz as per what’s happening on the screen. I switched between gaming, web browsing, and social media apps and did not feel any sudden shift in visuals like animations. Realme UI software <div type="image" title="9i 5G runs on Android 12 with Realme UI skin" msid="93641639" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;9i 5G runs on Android 12 with Realme UI skin&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The Realme 9i 5G edition runs on Android 12 with Realme UI skin out of the box. My previous experience with Realme UI had prepared me for what to expect. Yes, the bloatware. The usual suspects like MX TakaTak, Josh, and ShareChat are here. These apps can be uninstalled, but removing them is just one extra step you need to do when you boot up a brand-new device. After getting rid of them, the actual user experience is intuitive. Realme UI is one of the better skins in the market today. The colours and app icon designs pop out and should pander to a minimal and flashy audience. <div type="image" title="bloatware on the UI stands out like a sore thumb" msid="93641655" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;bloatware on the UI stands out like a sore thumb&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> There are basic options, like switching to dark-colour themes. You can also go full custom by choosing from the set of themes available on board. There is a buffet of options from cookie dough to a party. For me, however, the default skin did the job. Then there are other usual features like multi-window that comes in handy on the 6.5-inch panel. Additionally, there are also flexi-windows on the phone, which are basically floating windows. You can pin an application on the display while working on another application. I often pounded the calculator and calendar on the floating window, which added to my productivity. There is also a smart sidebar, giving you a shortcut for apps. This is also customisable. Realme has also promised two years of Android updates and three years of security updates on the 9i 5G. This actually does add to the longevity of the phone. Performance Realme 9i is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 810 5G chipset. This is what differentiates this device from its 4G avatar. The 5G variant definitely outperforms the 4G sibling powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset. If we strictly go by the Geekbench (benchmarking software) numbers, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 SOC’s single-core score is 372, while the multi-core score is 1552. The performance in the 5G variant is increased, with a single-core score of 601 and a multi-core score of 1781. This is not a substantial increase with respect to performance but it does put things in perspective. <div type="image" title="Geekbench score for Realme 9i 5G" msid="93641701" hostid="261" sizebytes="8142" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Geek bench score for Realme 9i 5G&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Coming to my user experience now. In my four days of usage, the 9i has been satisfactory. The device has cut through almost all the tasks I have thrown at it. Starting with everyday duties like emails, calls, and social media - this device can handle most of it. Since my unit is still fresh and not loaded with tons of files, there are no lags, but these devices tend to lose the freshness after a few months of usage, especially if you are an aggressive user. The variant with me packs in 6GB of RAM, which is more than enough to handle all the tasks if you are a light user. Coming to performance-hungry tasks, the phone takes a soft blow. Case in point gaming - you can’t expect a device of this nature to give you blown-out performance in gaming. And it does not. During my sessions of call of duty, the game was set on a respectable - HD setting for the best performance. There were no serious frame drops, and the device does its job well for a fun half-hour gaming session. But if you are a serious gamer who spends at least an hour, you will notice heating and, eventually, frame drops. To churn out better performance, you can tap on the RAM expansion. 9i 5G lets you expand the internal RAM by 5GB. There is a notable performance boost for gaming memory, but the graphic capabilities remain the same. The internal storage on my review variant is 128GB which is enough for most consumers. I strongly recommend this variant if you plan to go for the 9i 5G. It offers you more internal storage and better RAM. Battery performance on the 9i 5G is satisfactory. The 5000 mAh battery should last a day and a half if you are a light user. On working days, when I wasn’t on Youtube or watching short videos, the phone would not die. As expected, the battery life drops with constant content consumption. In this situation, you would have to plug the device in by the end of the day. <div type="image" title="9i 5G supports 18W flash charging" msid="93641741" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;9i 5G supports 18W flash charging&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> With the 18W fast charge support 9i 5G takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes to go from 0 to 100%. This is with active internet connection. This might feel like a long time, but then devices in this price bracket usually don’t go beyond 18W fast charging. Camera There is no on-paper change in the camera setup for the Realme 9i 5G from the original 9i. A 50MP primary camera with phase detection autofocus is paired with a 2MP macro sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. <div type="image" title="primary camera performs decently under natural lighting conditions" msid="93641828" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;primary camera performs decently under natural lighting conditions&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The camera output has not substantially changed, but the processing speed has a significant bump thanks to the new SOC. <div type="image" title="HDR in images is well maintained for brighter frames" msid="93641942" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;HDR in images is well maintained for brighter frames&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The daylight shots from the camera retain great amounts of detail, and it does tone down on the post-processing I noticed on other Realme offerings. Like the Realme 9 Speed edition. <div type="image" title="Lack of an ultra-wide sensor pains when trying to cover a bigger room" msid="93641999" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Lack of an ultra-wide sensor pains when trying to cover a bigger room&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> I noticed some over-saturation in images, especially when clicked in low or artificial lighting conditions. But nothing that would spoil your picture. The night mode on the camera puts out better results than regular clicks. It retains a tad bit better details and makes the images less grainy. Unfortunately, there is no ultra-wide sensor on the 9i 5G. Which I feel would have added some serious value to the device. What we get in its place is a 2MP depth sensor. Portrait shots on the smartphone are decent, with satisfactory edge detection. They don’t feel super crisp, though, something we see on Samsung Galaxy F23 available in the same price range. <div type="image" title="The dedicated depth sensor provides neat edge detection" msid="93642445" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The dedicated depth sensor provides neat edge detection&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> <div type="image" title="Night mode increases the brightness of the frame but loses out on details" msid="93642159" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Night mode increases the brightness of the frame but loses out on details&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The 2MP macro sensor is the weakest link. Macro shots from the sensor are bad, failing to retain detail. So it feels more like a gimmick of having this. If you are patient with it, this might get some usable photos in daylight. <div type="image" title="Macro shots lose detail and there is a change in color tone" msid="93642414" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Macro shots lose detail and there is a change in color tone&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> In terms of video performance, the 9i 5G can record 1080P &amp; 720P videos. It holds up well for casual videos, but if you are a content creator, then the quality might not suit your requirement. Here I would like to mention that the audio recorded on the video feed is crisp. In the front, we get an 8MP AI selfie camera. This is not the 16MP sensor we get on the regular 9i. The performance was in-line, though. Images were under-saturated, and skin tone was a miss. As expected here as well, you get multiple filters. The AI beauty selfie retains its classic features. It lets you retouch your facial features. From nose size to cheeks. So if you like such features, you are in for a treat. <div type="image" title="Portrait selfies have decent edge detection but the shadows are off" msid="93642193" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Portrait selfies have decent edge detection but the shadows are off&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Verdict Realme 9i 5G does not come with substantial changes compared to the regular 9i. However, if I look at it strictly as a 5G device, it is a solid choice in this price bracket. It’s priced lower than its siblings, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/realme-9-speed-edition-smartphone-review/articleshow/90145143.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Realme 9 Speed Edition</a> and regular Realme 9, yet offers a similar experience. If you are on a tight budget and want a future-proof device with 5G compatibility, then you can consider the 9i 5G. You will get a device with a premium build, a catchy eye design, stable everyday performance and enough power for some light gaming or prolonged instagram sessions.

You Searched For "sharechat expansion" and got 2 results

ShareChat is growing its team from 250 to 400 as it moves to monetize its 60 million user base

Samarpita Banerjee

Realme 9i 5G Review - 5G Upgrade With Cosmetic Changes

Dhruv Mohan

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides