The social media platform Koo, that has gained momentum amid the uncertainty surrounding Twitter under billionaire Elon Musk, has kicked off fundraising exercises to raise up to $15-20 million, according to the Economic Times.
The homegrown social media platform, run by former TaxiForSure founders, Aprameya Radhakishna and Mayank Bidawatka, have approached their existing investors, including Tiger Global, Accel, 3one4 Capital, and others. They are also expecting one or two new investors to join the fund.
Funding
The company has been pitching itself as an alternative to US-based microblogging sites and is hoping to double the valuation to $250-$300 million after the funding round. Accel and Tiger Global have invested Rs 510.8 million in the fund until November 24.
According to the report, Koo is looking to close smaller rounds and secure the capital that it needs for its expansion plan. The company has recently expanded to Brazil and is facing moderation challenges in the country.
Expansion plans
Koo also recently reached a million downloads in India and was earlier valued at over $100 million. The company is starting to test monetisation avenues on its platform and is looking for the right time to enter the United States, some media reports claimed.
What is Koo?
Founded in 2020, the Bengaluru-based company is a multilingual microblogging platform that allows its users to interact through texts, videos, and audios. Influencers on the platform can also connect with their community and have conversations with their fans. Currently, Koo is available in 11 languages and claims to have more than 50 million app downloads to date.
Earnings
Koo was in the pre-revenue stage in the financial year 2020 and has yet to release its financial numbers for this financial year. In the last financial year, the company had reported Rs 7.76 lakh in revenue from operations. According to Koo's annual financial statement, the company's losses went up nearly 3 per cent to Rs 35.18 crore in 2021 as compared to Rs 12.17 crore in 2020.
