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Mohalla Tech, the parent company of homegrown social media apps <keyword id="8678883" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="moj" source="Orion">Moj</keyword> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/media/article/bharat-users-are-as-affluent-and-digitally-savvy-as-india-users-sharechat-and-groupm-report/articleshow/89154657.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">ShareChat</a>, is acquiring Times Internet-owned short-video platform <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/india-predicted-to-have-650-million-short-form-video-users-by-2025/articleshow/86792986.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">MX TakaTak</a> 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 <keyword id="3358959" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sharechat" source="Orion">ShareChat</keyword>'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 <keyword id="9555198" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mx-takatak" source="Orion">MX TakaTak</keyword> 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.

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

Home-grown regional language social media platform <keyword id="3358959" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShareChat">ShareChat</keyword> on Wednesday announced that it had to let go of 101 of its employees, or about a fourth of the company's total workforce, due to the COVID-19-induced uncertainties in the advertising market. The Bengaluru-based company's cost-saving measures were announced in an email to employees by Ankush Sachdeva, Cofounder and CEO of the five-year-old firm which competes against the likes of Facebook and TikTok. "... today with the market uncertainties due to COVID-19, we are compelled to take a relook at our business. We have had to make a few decisions that would allow us to become leaner and position the company better for the future," Sachdeva said in the email. A ShareChat spokesperson later confirmed the decision to lay off 101 employees. "The global pandemic along with various local market uncertainties have had an impact on our business plans. This has pushed us towards certain tough decisions including a revised leaner structure while we continue to grow," the spokesperson said in a statement. "We've had to let go of 101 of our employees who've been part of our start-up journey. This was not an easy decision to make." ShareChat said it will provide a comprehensive severance package and extend assistance to the impacted associates with their outplacement support. The Twitter-backed firm started monetisation through advertisements only last year. But the COVID-19 brought uncertainties to the ad market. "We have to focus on our core product and feed recommendation driven growth levers while scaling back on the others. We need to go back to our fundamentals in terms of only picking bets that move the needle for growth," Sachdeva said. "We believe the Ad Market would remain unpredictable this year. We are streamlining our revenue teams to these new expectations yet will keep working towards building the necessary technology infrastructure," he said. In another big change, which is in line with Twitter's decision to allow some employees to work from home forever, ShareChat said that it would be partially remote at all times in the future. "We have adapted well to the remote working environment. Hence, we have relooked at the requirement of physical office spaces. We would be partially remote at all times in the future," Sachdeva said in the email. ShareChat, which has over 60 million monthly active users, raised $100 million in a new round of funding in last August. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/ms-dhoni-backed-khatabook-adds-to-its-line-up-of-star-investors-sequoia-and-tencent-get-more-stake-in-indias-largest-small-business-app/articleshow/75842295.cms">MS Dhoni-backed Khatabook adds to its line-up of star investors ⁠— Sequoia and Tencent get more stake in India's largest small business app</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/faisal-siddiquis-tiktok-acid-attack-video-is-adding-to-the-growing-list-of-problems-for-the-platform-in-india/articleshow/75800571.cms">Faizal Siddiqui’s TikTok acid attack video is adding to the growing list of problems for the platform in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/tiktok-gogole-play-ratings-fall-to-1-3-stars-after-4-million-comments/articleshow/75842653.cms">Tiktok got 4 million comments on Google Play Store dragging down its rating to 1.3⁠ — but it may not disappear yet</a>

ShareChat sacks 101 employees due to  'market uncertainties' amid COVID-19

<ul><li>India’s home-grown social network ShareChat is looking for its next round of investment, and Google may reportedly shell out $150 million to $200 million. </li><li>Even <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> has expressed its interest in ShareChat while chasing <keyword id="6762469" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="TikTok">TikTok</keyword>’s operations in the US. </li><li>Here’s why analysts think it makes sense that Google is looking to ShareChat in order to fill the gaps in its portfolio. </li></ul>Global tech giants are on the hunt for the next big social network. Facebook has rolled out Instagram Reels and Microsoft is looking to get its hands on the real deal by acquiring TikTok’s US business. Meanwhile, in India, Google is trying to finally get a piece of pie by investing in the country’s home-grown social networking platform, ShareChat. Neither Google nor ShareChat have commented on the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/google-in-talks-with-sharechat-as-latter-scouts-for-150-200-million/articleshow/77582440.cms">Economic Times</a> article, which claims that the companies are in the preliminary stages of negotiating an investment between $150 to $200 million. Nonetheless, analysts believe that Google’s interest in the local-language network will fill in the missing pieces it has in its portfolio. “It’s very well possible that ShareChat will eventually get rebranded as something else for global markets,” founder and CEO of Greyhound Research, Sanchit Vir Gogia told Business Insider. What is ShareChat? ShareChat is a social networking platform, which, within itself, has a TikTok alternative — called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/sharechats-tiktok-rival-moj-crosses-5mn-downloads-on-google-play/articleshow/76811384.cms">Moj</a> — that has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/sharechat-rides-on-the-ban-on-apps-from-china-with-15-million-downloads-in-36-hours-but-is-itself-backed-by-chinese-investors/articleshow/76728139.cms">gained traction</a> since the ban on Chinese apps was announced in India. “This will enable Google to have a shot at its social networking ambitions but as of now, we see it as a strategic investment if it happens,” said counterpoint analyst Tarun Pathak. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="77062280" title="Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Sharechat see substantial increase in time-spent after the ban on Chinese apps: Kantar" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> The investment would not just give Google an opportunity to make headway in the social networking game, but also allow it to leverage ShareChat’s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/users-created-over-100-mn-pieces-of-hindi-content-in-2019-sharechat/articleshow/72965102.cms">vernacular content</a>. It already lost out to Facebook in the west. ShareChat could provide the tech company its second coming. The Indian social network is currently the fastest growing local language social media platform in India with support for 14 Indian languages and more than 60 million active users. It’s one of the reasons that even Microsoft is <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/microsoft-in-prelim-talks-with-sharechat-indian-app-for-100-million-dollars-investment/story/412337.html">reportedly</a> looking to buy it even though it already has a monopoly in the professional networking space with LinkedIn. For ShareChat, an investment from Google would mean an investment by the ‘king of search engine optimisation’ (SEO), he explained. Brands pump in money where searchability is best — the more searchable a platform’s content is, the more likely it is to go viral. TikTok set the tone for social networks to travel from East to West The success of TikTok is only one case study on how the next big global social network won’t start out in the US or Europe but in Asia. But an app that’s popular in India will have a lot of users while being unable to general a lot of money. Indian users are diverse but they don’t like to spend online. “India is not a very high revenue market right now but it is a great testbed market from features, functionality and languages perspective,” said Gogia. Even with TikTok, one-third of its users were from India but the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/tiktok-made-more-money-than-any-other-app-in-july-despite-losing-its-largest-overseas-market/articleshow/77369131.cms">majority of its revenue was still from China.</a> Test local, make money global Many companies like Microsoft and Google already test drive their products in India and other countries before taking them to the US. According to Gogia, Google’s interest in ShareChat could very well be an attempt to drive innovation from a low-risk country and take it across broader global networks. If you look at it from Google’s point of view, it will be able to use the abundance of data to train its algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) models in a very big way. “These models can then be taken into other countries from a monetisation perspective,” explained Gogia. Investing in ShareChat fits in perfectly with Google wanting a piece of the pie in India’s rising digital adoption. “This will give them rich insights on how the next half a billion first time internet users will embrace the internet and help in tweaking their services accordingly and not to forget the indirect benefits to their core advertisement segment,” said Pathak. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/the-heat-is-on-mark-zuckerberg-in-india-as-facebook-and-whatsapp-incur-the-ire-of-modis-rivals/articleshow/77575358.cms">The heat is on Mark Zuckerberg in India as Facebook and WhatsApp incur the ire of Modi's rivals</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/not-only-gmail-google-drive-meet-slides-docs-sites-groups-chat-keep-voice-services-also-facing-issue-as-per-google/articleshow/77652103.cms">Google Drive, Docs, Meet and others are working again after being out of service for over six hours</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/microsoft-is-ending-support-for-the-legacy-internet-explorer-but-its-only-going-to-affect-less-than-5-of-online-users/articleshow/77607727.cms">Microsoft is ending support for the legacy Internet Explorer — but it's only going to affect less than 5% of online users</a>

Google eyes India’s ShareChat as Microsoft goes after TikTok in the US — here’s why it makes sense

<ul><li>Twitter co-founder, <keyword id="194394" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Biz-Stone">Biz Stone</keyword>, announced that they will be investing in a Kerala based startup — <keyword id="6883189" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sieve">Sieve</keyword>. </li><li>Sieve is a platform for tech freelancers and agencies to provide services over the cloud. </li><li>This is Twitter’s second investment in an Indian tech startup after funding <keyword id="3358959" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShareChat">ShareChat</keyword>, a local language social media app, in August. </li></ul>Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone, just announced that he will be investing in a startup mentored by the Kerala Startup Mission —, Sieve founded by Sanja Nediyara. This will be <keyword id="749437" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Twitter-India">Twitter India</keyword>’s second investment in an Indian technology start up within a span of two months. In August, Twitter put funding up for ShareChat, an Indian social media app for local languages. "I have used the product of Sieve as a freelancer. As an Angel, I consider the person first, and the product second. I find Sanjay as a dedicated, empathetic and extremely hardworking individual," stated Stone during a video conference at Huddle Kerala 2019. In both instances, Twitter has not disclosed the amount it has invested. What is Sieve? Sieve is a platform for tech freelancers and agencies. It provides services like infrastructure to websites, creating digital signatures or even manages invoices. As of now, Sieve only serves the US market but has plans to expand into Europe. The aim is to allow entrepreneurs to build Internet companies in the cloud. Using Sieve, freelancers from all over the world can form companies, and work from anywhere in the world. Not just Twitter Sieve’s other investor is Friends of Oorjja, an ecosystem to help individuals from the differently-abled community. Nediyara received help from mentors in the banking industry and Otis Elevators. Google also showed an interest in Nediyara’s startup when they invited him to their annual developers conference, Google I/O. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/facebook-india-head-explains-3-ways-that-indian-tech-startups-need-to-transform/articleshow/71327000.cms">Facebook India Head explains 3 ways that Indian tech startups need to transform</a>

Twitter invests in its second Indian start up within a span of two months

<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

New Delhi, As global layoffs deepen, Indian startups are not far behind and have sacked thousands of employees in the past 3-4 months, with many more to be given pink slips in the coming months amid deepening funding winter. In <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>, more than 21,000 employees have been laid off by more than 70 startups to day, including from unicorns like BYJU'S, <keyword id="6354720" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="ola" source="Orion">Ola</keyword>, MPL, Innovaccer, Unacademy, Vedantu, Cars24, <keyword id="2808667" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="oyo" source="Orion">OYO</keyword>, Meesho, Udaan and many more. The edtech sector has laid off the most employees, with 16 edtech startups laying off more than 8,000 employees to date. With the onset of January, more and more Indian companies are slashing jobs across the spectrum. The new year has already seen more than 16 homegrown startups sack employees in the country. Social media company <keyword id="3358959" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="sharechat" source="Orion">ShareChat</keyword> (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd) has laid off 20 per cent of its workforce due to uncertain market conditions. Backed by Twitter, Google, Snap and <keyword id="526777" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="tiger-global" source="Orion">Tiger Global</keyword>, ShareChat has about 2,300 employees, and the layoff impacted about 500 people at the company, Healthtech unicorn Innovaccer has sacked nearly 245 employees, or about 15 per cent of its workforce, across teams in India and the US. Innovaccer cofounder and CEO Abhinav Shashank cited an "uncertain macroeconomic environment" as the reason behind the job cuts, according to an internal mail sent to employees and accessed by leading startup news portal Inc42. This was the second layoff at the company in around 4-5 months' time amid the deepening funding winter and recession fears. In September last year, Innovaccer laid off nearly 120 employees, or less than 8 per cent of its workforce. Online food delivery platform <keyword id="6358977" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="swiggy" source="Orion">Swiggy</keyword> confirmed that the company is laying off 380 employees as food delivery growth slows. MediBuddy, an end-to-end digital healthcare platform in India, has laid off 8 per cent of its workforce, around 200 people, across all departments as a restructuring exercise. Homegrown online vehicle repair platform GoMechanic, backed by <keyword id="563136" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sequoia-india" source="Orion">Sequoia India</keyword>, has laid off 70 per cent of its workforce as the startup struggles to raise funds amid serious concerns of accounting troubles. The company has asked the remaining staff to work without pay for three months, according to reports. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) voice automation startup Skit.ai has asked more than 115 employees to go, mostly from its India team, as part of the "restructuring process" amid the deepening funding winter. Even IT giant <keyword id="10862" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="wipro" source="Orion">Wipro</keyword> has laid off more than 400 fresher employees for poor performance in internal assessment tests. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/budgeting-for-climate-change/articleshow/97378027.cms">Budgeting for the fifth C</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/an-app-that-wants-to-turn-fear-of-stock-markets-into-fun-raises-75-lakh-from-sharks/articleshow/97378121.cms">An app that wants to turn fear of stock markets into fun raises ₹75 lakh from sharks</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/steps-taken-in-subsidence-hit-joshimath-inadequate-declare-himalayas-eco-sensitive-zone-say-experts/articleshow/97411665.cms">Steps taken in subsidence-hit Joshimath inadequate, declare Himalayas eco-sensitive zone, say experts</a>

70-plus Indian startups show exit door to 21K techies, more pink slips coming

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) The ban on 59 Chinese apps has given homegrown app developers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create world-class products across chat, short videos, and photo/video sharing segments and led by ShareChat, desi apps are now scouting for fresh finds to invest intelligently into scaling their platforms and handle the upcoming rush. In a country where nearly 300 million people are on Facebook, another 400 million on WhatsApp and over 120 million on Chinese app TikTok -- not to forget the millions who are hooked to Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat -- there has not been a single social media platform to date with its roots in India that has created headlines globally. The time is ripe to rise to the occasion and show that Indian programmers can build top-notch social media apps right here, without going to the US or other countries. The regional language social media platform ShareChat is changing the way in which the next billion users will interact on the internet. With over 1 billion monthly Whatsapp shares, users spend more than 25 minutes daily on the platform. ShareChat has a user base of over 60 million monthly active users spread across the country and available in 15 languages including Hindi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Odia, Kannada, Assamese, Haryanvi, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri and Urdu. The Bengaluru-based regional language social platform has become so popular that even Twitter came onboard when the four-year-old company raised $100 million in its Series D round of funding last year. "ShareChat is silently leading a social media revolution with a strong focus on regional outreach keeping its Bharat connect pristine," said Berges Y Malu, Director, Public Policy, ShareChat. "We welcome the move from the government against platforms that have had serious privacy, cyber security and national security risks. We expect the government to continue their support for the Indian startup ecosystem," Malu added in a statement. Public is a video-only social platform and has already registered 50 million users, with more than one million videos being created every month. According to Azhar Iqubal, Founder and CEO of Public, we have immense talent and resources in India and the vacuum created by this ban is a great opportunity for Indian app makers to launch products that have the potential to do well globally. "It will also make users more vigilant in checking what permissions they have given to apps as smartphones store sensitive information," said Iqubal. Public is currently available in five Indian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil and Telugu, and aims to have over 100 million users by the end of the year. Roposo is another leading homegrown short-video making app with more than 65 million downloads in the country. TikTok users, including influencers with huge fan followings, have started switching to Roposo in large numbers after the ban. "We have built Roposo as a clean and ethical platform. The unique idea of channels in Roposo provides every talented Indian with an opportunity to grow rapidly," said Mayank Bhangadia, co-founder of Roposo. Indians have rushed to download social app Chingari, a desi alternative to Chinese TikTok, which is witnessing nearly 1 lakh downloads and over 2 million views per hour since the government banned 59 Chinese apps over national security concerns. Already downloaded over 3 million times, the app which was founded by Bengaluru-based programmers Biswatma Nayak and Siddharth Gautam last year, was trending at the top spot on Google Play Store. "As Chingari is setting new benchmarks, a lot of investors are showing interest in our app. We are holding crucial discussions to get a good investor(s) on board so as to scale up our free-of-cost social platform," informed Nayak. Launched in October 2017, Khabri is another fastest-growing digital audio platform providing content in the regional language. "We urge Indian corporate leaders to come forward and reclaim the country's business ecosystem and consumers through supporting/investing in Indian startups," said Sandeep Singh, co-founder and president, Khabri. "Since the word spread that Indians now have a homegrown and more entertaining alternative to TikTok, we have been recording traffic beyond expectations on our app," said Nayak. Lifestyle community commerce platform Trell has witnessed more than 1 million downloads after India banned Chinese apps. With over 30 million downloads and 9 million monthly active users on its app, Trell has witnessed a 25 times growth within one year. "We welcome all the Tiktok and Chinese apps content creators with open arms to come and engage on Trell. As the largest Indian lifestyle social app, we will continue to ensure that the privacy and data of users will be protected," said Pulkit Agarwal, Co-Founder, Trell. --IANS na/in

Homegrown social media apps turn restless for big leap

As every budding entrepreneur today is thinking of pain points from where their business ideas can emerge, three Lucknow boys are already on their feet trying to connect underserved netizens who want to have social interactions in their language of choice. 
 <keyword id="3395480" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Farid-Ahsan">Farid Ahsan</keyword>, <keyword id="724261" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bhanu-Singh">Bhanu Singh</keyword> and <keyword id="3395481" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ankush-Sachdeva">Ankush Sachdeva</keyword> - all three of whom are <keyword id="108320" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT-Kanpur">IIT Kanpur</keyword> passouts - have identified these users as non-metro audience who are widely unaddressed by the social products available in the market. They say Facebook or Twitter are serving a very niche audience in Indian society and not those who are still experimenting with the internet through their smartphones with limited data packs. 
 
This lot, they said, wants to express themselves online but do not have a platform which allows them to interact in the comfort of their local languages. The trio then came down to the conclusion - if they were to give these people an alternative, this untouched market would nto shy away from communicating socially like others. 
 It is for this reason this trio soon started developing an app last year, and this led to the birth of '<keyword id="3358959" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShareChat">Sharechat</keyword>' - a one of its kind social networking app for India’s vernacular language users, what the founders would like to call "India's real Facebook". 
 
The sheer success this app has got in the past few months indicates people were desperately seeking for such a platform. The app has been downloaded over 1 million times and it has half a million active monthly users. It started as a fun app for Whatsapp with users sharing 1 lakh content pieces per day, and has now made rapid strides towards becoming a full-fledged social network. 
 
FEATURES: 
 
- It allows users to share videos, jokes, GIFs, audio songs and funny images in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi and Malayalam. 
 
- The developers plan to add some more languages like Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil and Kannada soon. 
 
- ShareChat currently allows users to follow each other, create and find content in their language of preference and share them on all possible chat platforms. 
 
- The developers are also planning to add new content formats like live events and games. 
 
- It provides funniest Indian videos, best jokes, memes like Bakchodi Billi, Troll cricket and other latest and best funny jokes and funny videos. 
 
- Latest music videos, songs and Indian cinema and TV ads are also available with updates on Tamil, Bollywood, Telugu, Marathi and Bengali movies and songs. 
 
- It also gives daily horoscope, astrology in all Indian languages by birth date, kundli match service, news in Indian languages like Hindi, Kannada, love quotes, tips to dress well and how to prepare for interviews. 
 
- The app also provides health tips on how to cure yourself with home-made remedies, lose weight, religious quotes and dictionary. 
 
Notably, ShareChat recently made its way to the top six apps in the second batch of Google Launchpad Accelerator programme- a six-month mentorship programme in California. The programme includes $50,000 equity-free funding, two-week all-expenses paid bootcamp and access to Google Cloud.

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