ShareChat to acquire short video platform MX TakaTak for around ₹4,500 crore

Mohalla Tech, the parent company of homegrown social media apps Moj and ShareChat, is acquiring Times Internet-owned short-video platform MX TakaTak for nearly $600 million (about Rs 4,500 crore), sources said here on Thursday.

In 2021, Mohalla Tech cumulatively raised $913 million, at a valuation of $3.7 billion.

The acquisition, sources close to the development told IANS, will further bolster ShareChat's short-video market share through the platform Moj.

When contacted, the companies declined to immediately comment on the development.

Moj and ShareChat together have a 340 million-strong user community, while MX TakaTak has nearly 150 million monthly active users (MAUs).

Founded in 2015, Mohalla Tech has raised over $1.177 billion across eight fundraising rounds to date.

Moj currently has an average user time spent of 34 minutes every day, scoring over 4.5 billion views daily. ShareChat is positioned uniquely with an average user time spent of 31 minutes daily.

Since January this year, the company has grown to over 2,000 employees and added several new features as it focuses on building its products to be the leader in the Indian short video and social media space.

In December, Mohalla Tech raised $266 million as part of its Series G round.

"Both our products (Moj and ShareChat) have been leading the market with the highest monthly active user base, a very active creator set and amazing new partnerships to delight our community. This fresh funding will further strengthen our position," said Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and Co-founder, Moj and ShareChat.

After the ban on TikTok and other Chinese short-video making apps, the advertisement revenue from Indian short-form space has been growing at a rapid pace and tripled in just six months.

According to a latest report by homegrown consulting firm RedSeer Consulting, short-form content has grown 1.37 times in terms of monthly active user (MAU) and 1.1 times in terms of daily active users from June 2020 when Chinese app TikTok was banned in India.

The monthly active users of the short-form segment in the country are expected to grow more than two times to reach 650 million users by 2025, clocking the second spot after television.

This significant growth is largely expected to be driven by the new 300 million Internet users that will be added by 2025.

"Both Josh and Moj apps have seen a good jump in user and creator net promoter score (NPS) largely driven by users seeing more personalisation, fresher and more filtered content, and creators having access to new tools, increased reach and more collaboration opportunities," said the report.